G'night Booksie
by Enelya Telrunya
Summary: The journal of Monica Mastrelli as she becomes Mr Crepsley's assistant and even falls in love with him. Being re-written under the name of The Vampire's First Assistant!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Rewritten. Thank God. I couldn't really re-write it much without adding alot of extra bits so it's short. **

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"Monica! Can you help me find the old toolbox in the loft?" shouted my mum from the hallway.

I paused the film I was watching, The Crow, and pulled on a hoodie, it was freezing up there. She had already gotten out the ladder, assuming I'd agree. I climbed up cautiously after her and she switched the small light on. The whole place was covered in dust and it hurt just to breath. There was tonnes up there, old toys from when I was a baby and even some from when my brother, who was nine years older than me, was.

I wiped my glasses with my sleeve to get away the dust and began searching.

"Oh my God!" I heard her say.

"Hmm?" I muttered whilst pulling open a box to find old Barbies.

"Monica! Come here! Look!"

I approached her and looked at what she held in her hand. An old, battered notebook.

"What is it?" I blinked.

"My diary from when I was your age! I started it on my fifteenth birthday," she smiled as she read the first page.

I didn't really know what to say, I mean, I didn't want to ask her what she wrote about because diaries were a personal thing. Thankfully, she saved me from having to reply by speaking.

"You should start one, maybe you'll find it when your my age!"

I raised an eyebrow sceptically. The idea of a diary never appealed to me because I didn't have anything to actually write about. Wake up, school, go home, homework, music or computer for a little while and then bed. Nothing really changed. Despite what I thought the idea of a diary stayed in my mind until I got annoyed, pulled on some trainers and walked down to the corner shop to buy a cheap notepad. I grabbed a plain black one. When I got home I wrote a few paragraphs about myself and my two best friends, Carly and Alexis.

I only had a few other people I could call friends, and even then, I could barely call them friends. I hated school. I did well, I was one of the best students, infact. I just didn't like the people who went there. Alexis could have her annoying moments too but I tolerated it. Carly was wonderful. She was just quiet so people took advantage of her quite alot.

I ended up writing until roughly midnight, it was a good way to rant and share my thoughts without offending or causing arguments. I put the diary in my bedside cabinet, my parents respected my privacy and wouldn't read it. I ended up reading for half an hour before falling asleep watching The Lost Boys.


	2. Chapter 7

A frightening thought occured during the trip to the castle. As I stared over the top of the roof I thought "what if I jumped?". All it would take was a little slip and then I'd be free. But I didn't know about vampire heaven and hell. What if it was a sin or something to kill yourself? I wasn't religious. Infact, I was athiest, but since I found out vampires existed I wasn't taking any chances.

On Friday as soon as I got home from school I called all my relatives and talked to them. Memorising their voices. I didn't phone my brother, I'd phone him later. I was always close to him; once when I had just started high school some guy grabbed me by the neck. The next week he was in hospital. Guess who put him there.

After I had phoned everybody I spent time with my parents. We joked around and had an awesome time. I wanted to cry when it started getting dark.

"I'm gonna phone Craig..." I said, pulling out my mobile.

It rang for a while and then he picked up.

"Hey, midgit," came a voice.

"I'm learly as tall as you, idiot," I laughed sadly.

"What's wrong? Somebody upset you?" he asked.

"No, just feel down," I sighed.

We talked for a bit and then I looked at the clock. It was 10. I had to go.

"Craig, I-I gotta go, love you bro," I said.

"Aw! Getting all mushy! Fine, love ya too sis," he laughed.

"Bye," I said quietly and hung up.

I walked into the guest room where the big window was and waited. Ten or so minutes passed and I heard a tap. I got up and pushed the window open as wide as it would go.

"Good morning," Mr Crepsley nodded as he climbed in.

"It's night," I rolled my eyes.

"That is morning for me. I have decided I shall throw you out the window instead of putting you on the road," he said simply.

"Can I say bye to my parents?" I asked.

"Fine, but hurry it up," he sighed.

I nodded and ran from the room and down the stairs.

"Mum? Dad? I'm going to bed now, love you," I said, hugging them both.

They laughed and smiled.

"Love you too darlin'" they both said and I quietly went back upstairs.

"Could you look after my diary for me, and a photo?" I asked.

"Very well," he sighed as if it was a gruelling task.

I bit back a remark and handed him my diary and a photo of me with my family.

"Don't read that," I said, stopping myself from going pink.

He sighed and nodded, putting the photo into the back of the diary and putting the diary into a bag. Out of the bag he took out a small purple vial.

"Drink this, I shall put your glasses into the pipe just outside the window to make it look like you dropped them and tried to reach them but fell," he explained.

I picked it up, uncorked it and swallowed it in one gulp, grimacing. The effect was pretty much immediate. I went totally numb and was unable to move. I learly fell to the ground but Mr Crepsley caught me and set me on a chair, examaning my neck.

"Now I shall break your neck and throw you out the window," he said as if he was having a light conversation.

I heard a snap and presumed that he had broken my neck. He picked me up again and carried me to the open window. He threw me out. I felt nothing. Then I felt something under me. Cold and like stone. I was on the front path.

"What the hell was that noise?" I heard from inside.

I saw a light out of the corner of my eye as the front door opened. I couldn't move my eyes though. I was completely frozen. There was a gasp and then a scream.

"Monica?! Monica!" came the shout of my mum.

I heard another person walk towards the door.

"What's wrong with- Monica!" came the voice of my dad.

I felt myself being shaked and I saw my mum looking at my with tears in her eyes.

"Monica, wake up!" she said desperately.

I heard my dad ordering my mum to phone an ambulance. He picked up my wrist and felt for a pulse. He found none. He sighed and wept. I saw a shadow, I focused on it. It was Mr Crepsley on the roof. He nodded and disappeared. The ambulance arrived and I was wheeled on, hearing the cries of my mother and father tore me apart.

The doctors were quick to tell my parents I was dead, as soon as they saw my broken neck they pieced it together. All through that week I had family visiting, even from across the country, they were crying. I heard Carly, Jade and Alexis at one point.

"It couldn't have happened to a nicer person..." Carly had said shakily.

"I'm gonna miss her," sighed Jade.

"Who's gonna make saracastic comments at the chavs?" asked Alexis.

It was excruciating hearing the cries of my family, them talking about me. I wish I could jump up and tell them to cheer up. I felt a hand squeeze my arm and then a tear fell onto my cheek.

"Love ya sis," came the voice of my brother and I heard footsteps walking away. Silence.

I was buried the next day. I had itches by then. It learly drove me mad. I had begun to need oxygen again so I took as little breaths as I could. It didn't help my fear of being buried alive. I sang songs to myself in my head. Most of them were from "The Black Parade" by My Chemical Romance such as dead because I love being ironic.

I heard shovelling and sighed in relief. Thank god! The top of the coffin was lifted off and I saw Mr Crepsley standing there. He grabbed my arm and helped me up. After checking me over for broken bones etc. I climbed out of the hole and sat at the edge of it while he filled it it, he claimed I'd slow him down.

I looked at my outfit to see what I'd been buried in. I smiled. My favourite outfit. A black shirt with a red tie, a red kilt with black netting under it, black leggings and black leather boots.

"Get on my back, we must leave this city," ordered Mr Crepsley.

"I can walk," I frowned.

"We must flit," he explained.

"D-does it ever get easy leaving?" I asked, looking around.

"After a few decades, maybe more," he said softly.

He crouched slightly and I climbed onto his back. He stood and then began to run. It didn't look like he was going particularly fast to me. It looked like the world was zooming past under his feet.

We spent about 3 weeks sleeping in old churches or in sheds until I got fed up and asked Mr Crepsley if we could go to a hotel instead. He grumbled a bit but agreed. I refused to feed. I couldn't help it. I wanted to. I knew if I didn't I would die but every time I thought about it I felt physically sick.

"Monica! You must eat or you will die!" Mr Crepsley had hissed one night.

"It's sick! Drinking somebody elses blood! A human's blood!" I sighed.

"They are animals to us Monica! You must realise that!"

"Well then I'm a smeggin' animal rights activist!" I said sarcastically.

The corners of his mouth twitched at this but he remained stern. Whilst he slept during the day I would wander the city. I even managed to buy a CD player and one CD. Mr Crepsley had found out during the day I'd been hanging around music shops to listen to music so he gave me money. It was weird. He was never broke. Ever. I mean, it's not as if he had a job. At that thought I burst out laughing. Imagine him scanning your shopping at the supermarket!

I bought the CD I grew up listening to. It was way before my time but I loved it. It was an old band called The Kinks. My brother and dad loved them too so I listened to it all the time. It reminded me of them.

"Where exactly are we going?" I asked him one night as I was chopping vegetables to make stew.

"Remember our deal, Monica. I have homed in on Mr Tall's thoughts. We shall soon travel to the Cirque," he explained "Did you feed Madam Octa?"

I shuddered. I'd always hated spiders, I hated having to feed her.

"Yeah."

About three days later Mr Crepsley announced we would be leaving for the Cirque. I was excited but also scared. It was like enrolling in a school all over again. Will they like me? Questions like that ran through my head. Whilst he was flitting He began to get worn out. I felt sympathetic. He'd been overall nice to me, the least I could do was give the guy a drink. I didn't know where he kept his bottled blood so I just unscrewed my bottle of water and put it to his lips. He nodded in thanks once he finished drinking and kept running.

We stopped about half a mile from the camp.

"There's still a bit left," I nodded, taking a drink myself.

"I know. I do not want to arrive looking flushed," he muttered, taking a breather.

We began walking towards the camp.

"Do you still miss your family?" he asked.

"Yeah. The CD's helping. Thanks for the money by the way," I shrugged.

He didn't reply.

"It was my hometown too," he spoke.

"What?" I asked, snapping out of the daze I was in.

"I am from the same city as you," he said.

"Seriously? Where abouts did you live?" I asked, amazed.

"The houses were set out very differently back then, I lived near the middle of the city. You lived in the outer suburbs," he chuckled at my shock.

"But...you don't have an accent..." I said as if it was the biggest mystery ever.

He smirked.

"I talk like my master, perhaps you might end up talking like me," he said.

"Who was-" I began to ask.

"Enough questions for now. We are here," he shushed me.

A/N: I've kind of rushed the bit between where she's buried and all that because I don't know about you guys but I find it really annoying where the author sort of...re-writes the book in full detail. Kind of a filler but it shows a sort of bond forming between Monica and Larten. Some of it will be like the book, some won't 'cause I have a plan. Not tellin' ya though :p. I'll stop being a smeghead now. Hope you enjoyed :) 


	3. Chapter 8

We talked to Mr Tall for a while. He asked me what I could do like mending etc. and since I was hopeless at them all he told me to help out the snake boy, Evra. By the time we gout out the van the sun was rising so Mr Crepsley rushed off to his van to sleep. I headed to the tent Mr Tall told me to go to and walked in. The snake boy was in there, washing his snake. He looked my age.

"Who're you?" he asked.

"Monica Mastrelli, Mr Crepsley's assistant. Mr Tall told me to help you with your chores," I said, sort of shyly.

"Oh, kay. I'm Evra Von," he said, shaking my hand.

Some of his scales stuck to my skin but I wasn't surprised since I'd held snakes lots as a kid.

"Awesome name, dude," I shrugged.

"Thanks," he laughed "I'm just washing my snake. She's sleeping right now though."

I sat next to him and picked up a second sponge. Evra was a pretty cool guy. He was really shy though, once you got to know him he was awesome. I'd always gotten along better with boys than girls but all the boys in my school sucked so I had to stick with Carly, Jade and Alexis.

"What're those?" I asked, pointing to a midgit in a blue cloak.

"Those are the little people. They never speak, they just eat and work and sleep," Evra frowned

I shrugged and forgot about the "Little People" and kept scrubbing out one of the cooking pots. One day Evra and I were out hunting and we saw some kid peeking out from behind a tree. Even as I got to know Sam Grest, I never did like him. I found him annoying. Then again, I didn't really make an effort to get on with him since in a way I was still recovering from losing my family at the time.

I found it annoying how when we were about to leave he begged to join. He wouldn't take no for an answer. I would've probably done the same but then I knew what a mistake it had been to leave my family. I pretended I'd ask Mr Crepsley. I didn't. I just told him he'd said no.

We moved on pretty fast, not many crowds were coming since we were in the middle of a field far away from a city. Around a year passed and I was nearly fully over losing my family. I still played the CD loads too. I let Evra have a listen but he wasn't much of a fan, he like some of the songs though. We had become best friends. Even better friends than I was with Carly. I still had my lessons with Mr Crepsley. I'd even managed to drink! We had become somewhat friends. I still had the crush I'd developed the previous year.

Evra often made fun of me. Yes, I'd told him. More like he'd read my diary. I threatened him thatd I'd be having snake soup if he told anybody though. After that he hastily promised to keep his mouth shut.

"Monicaaaaaaa," said a voice.

"Ten more hours," I mumbled, rolling over to go back to sleep.

"Fine, I'll just go tell Mr Crepsley that you have a crush on him," came the voice again.

I sprang up and tackled Evra.

"Hahaha! I'm sorry! The look on your face! Priceless!" he kept laughing.

"Smeghead," I rolled my eyes but I couldn't help but laugh.

"Mr Crepsley wants to see you," Evra said when we stopped laughing.

"But...it's day," I frowned.

"It's still dark out," he explained.

I poked my head out the tent. It was.

"Kay, I'll see ya later," I shrugged.

I walked out of the tent and towards the centre of the camp. Nobody else was awake yet, Mr Crepsley was sitting near the fire.

"Hey," I muttered, rubbing my eyes and kneeling next to the fire for warmth, he was sitting on a log.

"Good evening Monica. This is the lesson you would've had earlier but you were busy," he said, he didn't sound angry that I forgot about my "vampire" lessons.

"Sorry, I was with Evra," I sighed, stretching.

"It is okay. I am glad you have made a friend," he nodded.

I began getting too warm so I sat on the log.

"So you have obviously gotten the grips of your new strengths over the last year or so, but you must not get cocky about them, you could end up arrogant. All it takes is a fight between you and even a human-" he began but was cut off.

We were both grabbed by the throat and I heard a menacing chuckly. Mr Crepsley didn't react so I did the first thing that came to mind. I brought my fist up behind me and hit my attacker square in the face. We were both dropped.

"Jeez! You're packin' a punch there, girly," said the voice only this time it was kind.

"Gavner, I must say you did deserve that," said Mr Crepsley.

I looked up to see "Gavner". He was a burly man, he half reminded me of my brother, he had scars on his face but small ones, not like Mr Crepsley's.

"I see I have been found out," Mr Crepsley sighed.

"Found out?" frowned Gavner.

"Yes, I have tried my best to keep Monica a secret but I suppose the princes would find out eventually. I have been expecting it," Mr Crepsley sighed again.

"She's a vampire?" Gavner's eyes widened.

"Half vampire," said Mr Crepsley "You did not know?"

"I didn't! Larten, the princes will be outraged!" Gavner sighed.

"Still here," I muttered, a bit peeved they were talking like I wasn't there.

"I apologise, Gavner, this is my assistant, Monica Mastrelli, Monica, this is an old friend of mine, Gavner Purl," Mr Crepsley introduced.

"I came to tell you something, a vampan-" Gavner said but Mr Crepsley cut him off.

"Gavner, there are certain things I do not wish Monica to know just yet, we shall talk in my van, Monica, please do not try to eavesdrop. I will be disappointed if you do," Mr Crepsley said.

"I'll tell you everything he says," Gavner said in a joking tone but when he received a glare from Mr Crepsley he uttered a "Kidding!"

I was smegged off. What wasn't he telling me? Why?

"Can I go back to bed?" I asked.

"Yes, you may," Mr Crepsley nodded and he and Gavner began to walk off.

I sighed and began walking back to the tent. Evra was asleep. I climbed into my hammock and was soon dreaming. I woke up to Evra shaking me again.

"Evra, wake me up one more time and I'm whooping your ass," I joked, getting up, the sun was up.

Evra and I walked outside and made our way towards the field to find food for the little people. We passed Mr Tall's van and we heard a voice.

"Hibernius, should I go? Obviously I would have to take Monica. She has only just gotten over her family, going back would destroy her, even if it was only a week or so," I heard Mr Crepsley say.

"Take Evra, she is good friends with the boy, Larten," came the voice of Mr Tall.

That was all we heard.

"Wonder what they were talking about," frowned Evra.

"They talked about my home...what if he's getting rid of me, Evra?" I said, panicking.

"Calm down, he said "if only for a week or so" plus he wouldn't," Evra explained.

I nodded and calmed down. Suddenly a dead bunny landed at my feet. I screamed and jumped back, Evra was in fits of laughter.

"Dude! Not cool!" I said, lifting up the bunny and throwing it in the bag.

Soon it descended into a fight of throwing dead rodents at eachother. Weirdest fight I'd ever had, but the funniest. I screeched as a dead mouse hit my face and fell to my feet. Evra yelped as a bird flung at him and got stuck in his hair. After untangling the bird from his greenish yellow hair we had to stop, we had to get on to our next chore. We picked up all the dead animals, stuffed them in a bag and walked towards camp. We gave the food to the little people who took it without a word as always. We then had to feed the wolf man. We collected big scraps of meat and threw it into his cage. He attacked it so rabidly I had to look away.

We worked all day and then at about 6 there weren't any chores left so we sat at the fire.

"I wonder what they meant," Evra shrugged.

"Dunno. Maybe Mr Crepsley'll tell us tonight, they mentioned you too," I sighed.

A/N: Thanks to Symphony of Terror for the awesome reviews. I'm working out some ideas for the plot so it might be a while for the next one. Sorry for the big time skip. 


	4. Chapter 9

It didn't surprise me when Mr Crepsley called me to his van that night. I saw Gavner leaving, he must've had to wait until sundown to leave.

"Hi Monica," he nodded with a smile.

"Hey Gavner," I greeted, smiling back and then added jokingly "So what'd he say?"

"Well....." he began, acting like he was going to tell me and then rolled his eyes.

"He'll tell you when you get to his van. He spoke fondly of you," he raised his eyebrow "That's rare for him, the old crabbit."

A/N: Crabbit is scottish slang for grumpy.

I laughed at that and felt happy.

"Are you going back to...wherever now?" I asked.

"Yeah, stuff to be done," he nodded.

"Mmkay, see ya Gavner," I smiled.

"Until we meet again, Monica," he nodded and began to flit.

I knocked on Mr Crepsley's van, I heard a muffled "come in." and entered.

"We have need to travel, Monica," he said uneasily as I sat on a chair.

"Where?" I asked, acting dumb.

"That appears to be the problem. It is our home city," he said, looking at me for a reaction.

Hearing it said out loud made it real, not some silly speculation I had.

"What?!" I asked, my breath hitched in my throat "No! I can't! I can't see them again! I'll miss them even more!"

"Monica, I know it is hard but we must. That is the life of a vampire," he said simply but not sympathetically.

"I'm a smegging baka!" I growled to myself, why did I change my life?

A/N: (Sorry about these) Baka is Japenese for idiot, I have a Naruto obsession...

Mr Crepsley (although he had no idea what baka meant) cut in.

"We must go, there will be no point in muttering to yourself. You may ask Evra if he wants to accompany us. It will not be for long," he said sternly but comfortingly.

"Thanks Mr Crepsley," I sighed and ran a hand through my hair.

I hadn't even seen myself in a mirror for ages!

"There shall be no lessons tonight for we shall leave tomorrow. You may go now," he nodded and then added with a small smile "You are welcome, Monica."

I nodded and left the van. I padded in my bare feet across the grass towards the tent. My shoes were getting too small for me, I'd have to ask Truska for another pair, or buy some when we got to the city. I arrived at the tent and walked in.

"It's official, we're going back to my city. You're invited," I anounced, sitting on my hammock "Please come along so I don't die of boredom!"

"Well...I do need somebody to help me with my chores so I suppose I'll come," he nodded with a smile.

"Awesome!" I grinned and hugged/tackled him which turned into a play fight.

"Monica, did Evra-" said the voice of Mr Crepsley and then he stopped talking as he saw me on the ground with Evra on top of me.

His cheeks went bright pink.

"I apologise," he said quickly and left.

I then burst out laughing.

"That must've looked so wrong!" I said in fits of laughter as I got up.

"He's probably jealous!" Evra laughed, saying jealous in a sing-song voice.

"Oh, Smeg off, snakey, he's not," I said jokingly "How could he think...Bleck! That'd be like smeggin' incest."

"You've broken his heart, I'm sure," Evra joked "Come on, we need to find people to look after Madam Octa and Aphra."

A/N: Yes, I'e officially named Evra's snake Aphra...because I like that name. Does it have a name in the book? If it does I missed it.

I got the spider from the corner of the tent and held the cage at an arms length. She still gave me the creeps. Eventually Hans Hands agreed to watch them both, he was more creeped out by madam octa than me! Once it was arranged I had to pack. Truska had given me a pair of simple black boots which I was eternally greatful for, I hated walking barefoot. It was simple enough for me. I just needed to bring my diary and the photo of my family. I was too embarassed to face Mr Crepsley so I waited until the middle of the day to creep around his van and pack for him. Once that was done there was only one problem. Evra and I couldn't decide what to use to cover his face. It was lucky that I was leafing through my diary when I was thinking because I remembered a stupid fad that used to be going on for the chavs at my school. They had a scarf type thing they'd tie around the bottom of their faces.

I had a fabric hearband which spread out so I used that. He looked funny but it was better than getting stopped for questions all the time.

That night Mr Crepsley got to the tent just as I was getting my jacket on (he knocked this time).

"How are we getting there?" I asked.

"Buses, trains and such," said Mr Crepsley and I gave him a look like he was mad.

"Vampire dude say what?" I asked with raised eyebrows.

"It is not prohibited for vampires to use public transport," he chuckled at my shock.

It was weird getting on a train. It felt so...human. We got one of those seats where there's four seats facing eachother and a table in the middle. The journey took 2 hours. I fell asleep for the first hour but woke up when the train jolted and my head smacked against the window, earning a roar of laughter from Evra and even the corners of Mr Crepsley's mouth twitched upwards. After that I just stared out the window. I remembered when I used to visit family and I would simply listen to music and stare out the window. It was like Deja Vu.

The train halted to a stop in the city's station. I got out and it looked exactly how it looked a year ago. I swallowed and we began to head out. We then had to get a bus to the hotel. I was silent the whole ride, staring out the window. Nothing had changed. When we arrived at the hotel I was slightly scared. It was only around the corner from my house. It was a two bedroomed room, one room had one double bed and the other had two single beds.

The sun was rising by the time we got to the room so Mr Crepsley went to bed. Evra and I decided that we'd take a nap and then run around the city. I curled up on the couch whilst he went to his bed. I woke up about 2 hours later. It was nine in the morning. It was weird having a television and computer again. Evra was still asleep so I decided to leave him be for an hour. I went to the bathroom and locked the door. I looked in the mirror. My weight used to be average. I was now lanky. My used-to-be light brown hair had turned dark brown. My slightly tan skin had turned pale, like Mr Crepsley's. I slipped off my clothes and began to take a shower. I hadn't taken a proper shower since I had left, not counting lakes. It felt good. Once I was washed. I quickly dried off and blow-dried my hair. Once that was done I pulled my clothes back on and walked out the room. Evra was awake when I got out so we left.

"Should we pass my house?" I asked, biting my lip.

"Only if you want," Evra said.

It was 10:15 meaning my mum would be leaving for work at that time. I pulled the hood of my jacket up and we began to walked. Sure enough as we passed the drive of my house there was my mum, locking the door as she left. I put my head down and kept on walking. I couldn't believe it. She looked the same. We kept walking until we got to a bus stop, we then caught a bus up to the supermarket, which was coincidentally enough, opposite to my high school.

"That's the hell hole I used to call school," I pointed towards the huge white building.

"Looks like an asylum," Evra laughed.

"It was," I smiled, all my old friends would be in there.

By the time we got back to the hotel it was nearly dark. We'd basically ran around the city. Mr Crepsley woke up, ate and then left. He was acting strange. I didn't like it.

Authors note: Once again, thanks to Symphony of Terror for the review. I've worked out the plot and stuff so the next one hopefully won't be long (if my teachers don't give me much homework, if you have to wait too long go burn don my school, I don't mind, honestly!). 


	5. Chapter 10

A/N: I noticed I haven't done a disclaimer yet. Oh, and blame my teachers for the wait, I had to make this model thing for homework. I've also had a considerable amount of friend drama.  
Disclaimer: I only own my OC's and this plot.

"What ya wanna do?" asked Evra.

"You seen TV before?" I asked, flicking through the channels.

"Nope," he frowned.

I then stopped on a channel.

"You'll love this then," I smiled and sat on the couch.

By the end of the day I'd gotten Evra addicted to Naruto. It was pretty funny. Over the past couple of days Mr Crepsley kept doing the same thing, barely saying a word. It was smegging me off. Evra and I decided to stay in on the weekend because it was risky incase I saw anybody I knew, it was a small city afterall. We were glad when it was Monday.

"Hey, Evvie-kins?" I asked.

"Never call me that again," was the reply I got.

"What's the date?" I asked, pulling my boots on as he tied his scarf around his face.

"15th December, why?" he asked.

"I turned 17 last week," I laughed "Plus, it's Christmas soon."

"What's Christmas?" Evra asked, pulling his hat on.

On the way to the shops I'd basically explained everything about Christmas to him. He didn't understand it but he'd probably get it when the time came. We walked into an electronics shop and what I saw on the TV scared the smeg outta me. Evra was looking at games and i-Pods so I hissed.

"Evra!"

No answer.

"Evra!"

No answer.

"Evra Von, get your scaley ass over here!" I growled.

He laughed and walked over.

"What?" he asked.

"Look!" I said, pointing to a TV screen.

Headlines read "Three found dead in warehouse! Drained of blood!"

"Ya think it was...." Evra trailed off.

"No, it was me," I said sarcastically.

He rolled his eyes.

"So what do we do?" he asked.

"What can we do? I'm no match for him in a fight." I sighed, running a hand through my hair.

"We could follow him, bring a gun or something?" he asked.

"It's not the vampire way to use guns," I sighed.

"You sounded like him there! What about a knife?"

"That'd work. What if he catches us?"

"Then we're screwed," Evra shrugged.

"Come on then, it'll be dark soon," I said as we jogged towards the bus stop.

We caught a bus and rushed into the hotel. By the time we got to the room Mr Crepsley was just waking up. I quickly made some food. We pretended to pay no attention as he ate and then as he stood up and left we got up and bolted out the room. We bolted out after him. I was sort of disappointed. All he did was sit on top of the hotel roof and stare into the crowds passing.

He did that for a while and then one night, he moved. It was the same routine for a couple of nights, I couldn't figure out who he was following! Evra and I began to look through the crowd to see if there was anybody who stood out. There was. One single man. He looked like some sort of business man, he had three scratches on his cheek. We started to notice that wherever the man was, Mr Crepsley was. He began trailing him and it worried me. Was he going to kill him?

There was one night when it all happened. One night I wished I wasn't there. You see, the guy lived next to an alley. An alley he had to go through every night to get home. Mr Crepsley had crouched behind a large dustbin, Evra and I had crouched behind a sign for a restuarant at the end on the alley. The man was just walking past where Mr Crepsley was and BAM, Mr Crepsley leapt for him. I leapt at the same time and knocked Mr Crepsley out the way. He was stunned at first and then I looked up and saw a.....creature. It had bright purple skin with bright red nails and eyes. It let out a giggle and then ran away in the opposite direction.

"You fool! You bloody idiot!" Mr Crepsley bellowed and slapped me across the face.

He didn't hold back, he was in a fit of rage. The power of the slap caused me to fall to the ground. He kicked me in the stomach but he held back this time, thankfully. If he didn't I'd have been dead. He lifted me up, slapped me even harder which made me see stars and dropped me.

"Mr Crepsley! You're gonna kill her!" Evra said as I curled up on the floor.

He seemed to come to his senses at that and it became silent.

"You should not have done that," said Mr Crepsley.

"Why? You should've told me. What was I supposed to think?" I coughed, wincing, he sure did pack a punch, or kick.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

I took in a deep breath and winced, he'd knocked the air out of me. That'd hurt in the morning.

"Bodies have been found drained of blood. My vampire mentor had been disappearing every night, barely saying a word, coming back in the morning, not saying a word. Admit it's suspicious," I sighed, carefully bringing a hand up to rub my cheek.

I was in shock, he'd never hit me before. Tears were building up but I held them back. I still hadn't looked up. I heard a sigh and then an arm went around my waist to help me up. I expected to feel Evra's scales but instead I felt the material of Mr Crepsley's cape. I straightened out with a wince as we began to walk back to the hotel, Evra at my other side. I felt dizzy and sick, my stomach was throbbing. Mr Crepsley was surprisingly gentle in helping me walk. My legs were shakey from shock, still. We arrived at the hotel and quickly went to the lift. Once we were back in the room I sat on the couch and ran a hand through my hair. Evra quickly disappeared off to the bedroom.

"Monica, I am truly sorry for hitting you," Mr Crepsley sighed.

"It's okay," I said quietly.

"It was unforgivable," he argued.

"It's okay. I was an idiot," I sighed "What was that thing?"

"That creature...is a vampaneze," he explained, sitting next to me.

I was about to ask what a vampaneze was when we heard a scream. I got up and ran as fast as I could manage to the door to mine and Evra's room, ignoring the pain. I flung the door open. The room was a mess, the window was wide open. Evra was gone. I screamed. The next hour was spent with Mr Crepsley as he calmed me down. He had already assumed that the vampaneze followed us and took Evra. I still didn't know what a vampaneze was.

"What is a vampaneze?" I asked, wiping my eyes to stop a tear falling.

He explained what a vampaneze was. I was disgusted, miserable and amazed at the same time. Vampires were well-known legends amongst humans, what were the vampaneze to them?

"I am sorry. I know Evra was your erm "Boyfriend"," he said, knowing if he used the term mates I'd be confused.

My eyes went wide.

"Me and Evra?! No! He's like a brother," I wrinkled my nose.

"When I went in the tent I assumed-" he began.

"We were fighting," I rolled my eyes.

His cheeks went pink.

"How're we gonna get him back?" I asked, changing the subject.

"We must make a plan," he said, smiling grimly.

The night was spent planning and when the sun rose Mr Crepsley headed off to bed, I slept on the couch. Mr Crepsley told me not to sleep in my room incase the vampaneze came back for me. He did offer to sleep on the couch but I wouldn't let him so I curled up on the pull-out couch with a blanket and soon fell asleep. I woke up about 4 hours later, it was 11am. I was still slightly tired but couldn't sleep with the sun beaming in my eyes. I got up and winced. I knew I'd be bruised like hell. I slowly walked over to the bathroom, walked in and locked the door. I looked into the mirror and sighed. My cheek was blue and slightly swollen, it hurt when I even gently brushed my hand over it. I closed my eyes tight, causing a dull ache in my cheek and then lifted my baggy t-shirt up slightly. My stomach was in worse condition. It was nearly black where he'd kicked me and then went to a dark blue. It was swollen and red around the large bruise. Ths was when he was holding back!

I sighed and winced undressed and turned the shower on. The hot water hitting my stomach was almost torcher. Once I was ready I slumped on the couch (which I had folded back to normal) and sighed. Was Evra still alive? Thoughts lke that ran through my head for what must have been an hour until I couldn't take it and left the room.

"She always wears the same clothes too, strange girl," I heard a maid mutter to herself as I walked past.

I rolled my eyes and looked down at the clothes I was buried in. I liked my outfit! I kept walking until I was at the park I used to play at when I was human. I sat on one of the swings and sighed. It was better than the hotel room. I swang slowly back and forward then I heard gravel crunching. I looked up. Alexis, shit! I quickly pulled my hood up and looked down. She looked different, of course, she was 17. Last time I saw her she was 15.

"Monica used to play here with us all the time," she sighed to somebody.

I glanced up for a second. Carly!

"Why'd we come here? We'll just get down," Carly replied sadly.

"Well it's her death anniversary. We should do something in her memory," Alexis replied.

"Hey, who's that?" asked Carly.

Shit. They were always way too outgoing. I knew what was coming. They ran up and sat next to me.

"Hey, kid! Who're you?" Alexis said, trying to sound happy.

"Uhm...Melissa," I said, making my voice higher.

"Cool! I'm Carly, this is Alexis, wanna hang out?" asked Carly.

"Uh...actually I have to go, my dad's waiting for me," I lied, getting up.

"I'd notice that accent anywhere!" whispered Carly, frowning, I wouldn't have heard her if I was human.

I was about to run but Alexis caught me around the waist, making me wince and whip around. My hood fell off.

A/N: Hahaha! Cliffhanger, yes? Thanks to Symphony of Terror, again :) 


	6. Chapter 11

Their eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and I froze.

'Should I run?' I thought to myself 'No, they'd go around telling people "We just saw our supposedly dead friend!" and that's too risky.'

I was torn between what I should do. Sit and explain? Leg it? Knock them out? I immediately ruled out the last idea with a smirk.

"What the fuck is funny?!" asked Alexis.

"Calm your camel," I sighed "Want an explanation?"

"Sure as fuck we do! You're six feet under!" said Carly, freaking out.

"First, ya gotta calm down," I said, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath.

Any other day I would've been ecstatic at the idea of talking to my friends again but at the time I was too busy wondering, hoping, that Evra was alive. They looked older. Obviously they looked older. I rolled my eyes. I would have to wait atleast 7 years to look 17. They'd be 24 at that time.

"Follow me," I muttered, walking over to the old tyre swing and sat in it.

They followed and sat facing me so we were in a somewhat circle.

"Are you a ghost?" asked Alexis cautiously.

"Keep going," I said, staring at my boots.

"Zombie?"

"Pfft," was my reply.

"Well explain then!" sighed Carly in annoyance.

"Carly. Remember the Cirque Du Freak?" I asked.

"Yeah," she frowned.

"Mr Crepsley?"

"What about him?" she asked.

"He's my mentor."

"Mentor? What the hell?!" Alexis growled "Why haven't you aged?!"

"Listen," I sighed in annoyance "You know how I...despised everything? Well..."

I finally managed to get the story out and by the end they were speechless. I was scared of how they'd react. I knew it was a mistake to give up my humanity but I'd found happiness with The Cirque. With Evra. With Mr Crepsley! If they told anybody they'd get sent to a madhouse. But...they were my friends. They' be happy for me...right?

"I can't believe you!" hissed Alexis.

Wrong.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You left us, put us through misery, to go play housewife to some freak!" she snarled.

Carly remained silent. I shot Alexis a piercing glare.

"He isn't a freak and I'm not a fucking housewife," I growled "Carly, what do you think?"

"I don't know," she muttered.

"I'm gonna tell everybody!" hissed Alexis.

In a flash I was up and holding her by the throat.

"You. Will. Tell. Nobody," I snarled.

"Oh! Ya gonna hit me? You're not that hard to beat! Somebody obviously beat your ass!" Alexis cackled.

I tightened my grip.

"The person who did that is a full grown vampire. And he was holding back," I said.

She began gasping for air and trying to pull at my hand whilst Carly was watching, horrified, not knowing what to do.

"Let go!" she managed to choke out.

"You will tell nobody, YES?" I growled.

"I swear!" she cried.

I let go and she fell to the ground.

"Nice seein' ya again, Carly," I muttered and left the park.

I felt like a complete monster as I arrived back at the hotel. Where had all that rage come from? Had I changed or had they? What if they told somebody? No, they wouldn't, I scared the living hell outta them. I was dreading it but I knew that when Mr Crepsley woke up I'd have to tell him. I sighed and laid down on the couch and closed my eyes. I had nothing better to do.

For the first time in ages I dreamt. Well, it wasn't really a dream. More of a flashback. It was my family when we went on holiday to America. I was standing at the edge of the ice-cold pool, zoned out when suddenly my brother ran behind me and shoved me in the pool. The coldness of the water stabbed at me and I pulled myself out of the water, shaking but laughing.

Then suddenly I was at the Cirque, standing at the edge of a pond, staring into the water. I felt a push and went flying into the icy, murky water. I emerged, soaking and mucky to see a laughing Evra. I then grabbed him and dragged him to the water and pushed him in with a smirk. Needless to say people just shook their heads and laughed when we trudged back.

I woke up with a start. I looked around, the sun was setting. Mr Crepsley would be up in about an hour. I sighed and stretched, wincing as the bruise on my stomach ached in protest. I stood up and walked to the kitchen. I began to chop some vegetables to make soup.

'Play housewife to some freak!' Alexis' voice rang in my head.

I wasn't playing housewife. Every assistant did this. In return I learned the ways of the vampires. Once the soup was finished I put some in a bowl and then some in another. I sat and sipped at mine as I thought. The plan would work. It'd have to. I poured half of my soup down the sink, not feeling very hungry. Soon enough, Mr Crepsley emerged from his room, scartching his scar.

"I made soup," I said, pointing towards the bowl on the table.

"Thank you," he nodded, even though it was my job, I was guessing he was feeling guilty.

"I hit you harder than I should have. I should not have even hit you at all," he sighed, looking at the bruise on my cheek.

"It's fine, it doesn't hurt much," I lied.

"How is your stomach?" he asked sipping at his soup.

"Just a bit worse, I'll live," I smiled, lying once again "But we may have a problem."

"Yes?" he asked.

"I ran into some...old friends. They didn't take the truth very well...." I sighed.

I explained to him what had happened.

"You handled it well, better than I could have expected. You should've killed them to make sure but you are too kind hearted for that," he chuckled.

I didn't know whether to take it as a compliment or insult. Mr Crepsley must've noticed the expression on my face.

"It was a compliment, there are too many vampires who relish the thought of spilling blood," he said.

"Thanks," I gave a small smile "Are we gonna search tonight?"

"Yes, we do not have much time to lose," Mr Crepsley nodded as he put his bowl on the bench.

I sighed and pulled my boots on. It was going to be a long night.

A/N: Once again, thanks to Symphony Of Terror for the review. I had to re-write this chapter which is why it's kind of short and stuff. Originally it was really happy and they forgave her blah blah blah, and before I posted it I was kind of disgusted with myself to write something so happy so I re-wrote it and there's an incredible twist lined up :) I don't know how long the wait'll be for the next one since I usually write little bits over time like in the morning before school and during lessons I think of how I'll set stuff up (learning is over-rated). 


	7. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC's, if I did own DS characters, I sure as hell wouldn't be spending my time on the internet.

We left the hotel via the roof. We went up the fire escape and climbed down the side of the building, I felt like freaking spider Crepsley led me through lots of streets, he seemed to know exactly where he was going, for a second I forgot he was from that city too and almost asked him how he knew his way so perfectly!

"How do you know where you're going?" I asked.

"The vampaneze back there was not insane, merely on the brink of insanity so he has been shunned. I have some idea of where he is hiding," Mr Crepsley explained.

I nodded and we soon arrived at an old rundown warehouse. It was the sort of place The Cirque would usually perform in. We climbed the side of the building (once again, a Spider Man moment.) and found a small door on the roof.

"You go down and distract him, tire him out and try to get Evra, I shall kill him when his guard is dropped," Mr Crepsley explained.

"What do you want me to do? Pull a 'Phantom of The Opera'?" I asked, imagining myself running in and shouting "Did I not request that box 5 be left empty?"

I smiled and laughed at the thought. He raised his eyebrows.

"Ok, Ok," I sighed and opened the door.

I entered as quietly as I could and walked down the shakey stairs. I looked over a railing to the ground and grimaced. Evra was tired up in the corner, whimpering while the Vampaneze was muttering to himself. I comtemplated on actually shouting what I had thought earlier but decided against it.

"Hmm...Purple really isn't your colour," I sighed from where I was standing.

"Ooh! It's the pretty little girly, Creepy Crepsley too scared to come and fight me, hmm?" he asked with a laugh.

"Actually, he doesn't know I'm here," I shrugged.

"No! Monica get out! He'll kill you!" Evra said.

"Worse things happen at sea," I smirked.

I watched the vampaneze like a hawk, any sudden movement and I'd attack.

"Child! They send a child to kill me! Haha! Murlough is smarter than that! Murlough will kill you and eat you!" He grinned.

"Your funeral, mate," I shrugged again with a smile.

That's when he made his move. He sprang up like a wild animal to the balcony type thing I was standing on. I ducked the punch he tried to deliver and jumped to a lower platform. I gulped, knowing if I fell I'd break a bone or two and most likely be killed. I kept leaping down to lower platforms whenever the chance occured so I was safer. Finally I reached the ground and was glad, it made it easier for me to punch or duck without worrying about falling.

I tried to remember all the small fighting lessons my brother had given me. It was mostly punching techniques or kicking. I wasn't the best fighter but it was better than running up and giving little girlish slaps worthy of a 3 year old. I swung and caught him in face, he snarled and kicked at my legs, sending my sprawling. I tried to drag him down with me but all that caused him to do was stumble. As he regained his balance I grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled hard. Childish, but it worked.

'Mr Crepsley better hurry up!' I thought with a grimace as I punched Murlough in the stomach. Soon I was knocked to the ground and sighed. I didn't have any energy left. Murlough stood with a laugh and drew out a knife and threw it at me. I squeezed my eyes tight shut and waited for it to strike me in the stomach or head. It didn't. I'm guessing you're thinking suddenly some random hero jumped infront of me and took the knife instead? Nope, it stuck itself in my arm instead. I screamed of course, I'd never felt such pain.

"Monica!" panicked Evra.

I winced and opened my eyes. I saw a flurry of red stand infront of Murlough.

"Took your time," I breathed.

"Are you alright?" asked Mr Crepsley, not letting his eyes leave Murlough.

"I'll live...probably," I winced, glancing at the knife in my arm.

MrCrepsley began fighting with Murlough, I couldn't believe how awesome he was at fighting! I crawled towards Evra.

"I don't have a knife, except the one in my arm so I'll have to break the rope," I sighed and took the rope next to the knot. I yanked at it as hard as I could and it snapped.

I could barely move my arm so Evra helped me up and I put an arm around him for support since my legs were aching as though I'd just ran a marathon. I looked up to see Mr Crepsley alone.

"Where's Murlough?" I asked.

"He ran for it. He shall not come back," Mr Crepsley sighed.

"Do we follow him?" I asked, wincing as blood trickled down my arm.

I was covered in scratches and soon-to-be bruises but the knife was by far my worst injury.

"No, my work here is done. He is not in this city anymore. We may return to the Cirque Du Freak," Mr Crepsley explained.

I nodded "One more question."

"Yes?"

"Can ya take this fucking metal outta my arm now?" I asked, wincing as another wave of pain shot through my arm.

He seemed to remember and smiled sheepishly. Evra and I sat on one of the platforms and Mr Crepsley looked at my arm.

"This will hurt," he said simply and took the knife out.

I gritted my teeth and hissed.

"It appears the knife damaged the bone, I can heal the skin but your arm requires a bandage and support," he said, rubbing spit onto the bleeding wound, leaving a silver scar.

It healed but my arm still hurt like hell. Mr Crepsley decided we should flit back to the hotel and leave the next night. Evra had to get on his back since he was able to hold himself up, unlike me. Mr Crepsley had to carry me back. It hurt like a bitch as he ran since my arm was being jolted slightly. We arrived back at the hotel and had to enter through the main door. We were met by alarmed stares.

"Can you please send a first aid kit to room 45." said Mr Crepsley and we went into the lift.

He set me on my feet since he wasn't flitting anymore. We arrived at the room and soon a maid arrived with a first aid box and a nervous epression.

"Is she alright? I can ring for an ambulance if you want?" she asked, shooting me a concerned look.

"No, it is alright, she has merely hurt herself doing sports," Mr Crepsley lied.

"Alright then," nodded the maid and left.

Mr Creplsey bandaged my arm as gently as he could as he bandaged it. He then healed the smaller cuts, I only had one other scar but it'd fade in time.

"I am sorry for waiting so long to step in, I thought you could handle it, it was stupid of me," Mr Crepsley apologised.

"It's okay...I'm fine," I nodded "You Okay, Evra?"

"Better than you," he smiled, rubbing his arm where some scales had been cut "I'm going to bed."

The sun would be rising soon. Evra stood and headed to our room.

"Thanks for saving me, Mr Crepsley," I smiled and gave him a short hug

The vampires cheeks went pink and he hugged me back breifly and then I went to my room, blushing. I entered the room with a smile and shut the door.

"And you think he doesn't like you," smirked Evra.

A/N: Okay, once again thanks to Symphony of Terror for a review :), go check out her story, it's awesome!  
See how I'm sort of making Larten & Monica get along more and more? I have a request of some sort. I'm pretty sure that more than one person is reading my story. I'm not looking for people sucking up to me or anything, I just want opinions on my writing, even constructive critisism (I know that's probably not spelt properly) But I'm not going to be all "3 reviews or I won't write any!" 'cause people like that annoy me because I write for my enjoyment, if anybody else likes it it's just an added bonus .  
Next one out whenever I have time. 


	8. Chapter 13

A/N: Sorry for the wait but alot of stuff's been going on for me right now (performances, drama rehearsals, friend stuff, homework, band practice, b-day party arrangements etc.) all along with writers block so, sorry. Thanks for everybody who reviewed and favourited etc. )  
Oh, a question. Would you guys prefer less waiting time but shorter chapters or more waiting time with longer chapters?

Disclaimer: If I owned the Darren Shan characters I'd be sitting in a room with of hot vampires, not writing fanfiction.

I spent the next day walking around the shops with Evra. I knew it was pointless getting stuff because of all the travelling. It was a bit hard moving around with my make-shift sling so I was greatful to have Evra's help. I made him sit outside while I went into a shop to get him a present though. He laughed and rolled his eyes but obediently sat on the bench outside the shop as I bought his gift. I even bought Mr Crepsley something, a new tin whistle, but only because his was getting old and stuff...really! I bought Evra a beanie because it suited him and I also bought him a hoodie he'd practically been stalking while we were shopping.

"I used to do this all the time with my friends when I was younger," I smiled as we sat on the bus, drinking hot chocolate we'd bought.

"It'll be weird going back to the Cirque," commented Evra.

"Yeah, I kinda miss it though," I muttered, glancing towards an old lady who kept staring at us funny.

"Kinda hard to figure out who she's staring at," Evra commented.

"Yeah, Wednesday from the Addams Family or the dude wrapped up like a Mummy," I snorted.

"When're you gonna give Mr Crepsley his present?" Evra changed the subject.

"Tonight or tomorrow, but when we get back I need to have a nap or something, I've been getting two hours sleep tops," I sighed, rubbing my eyes with my good hand.

The bus came to a stop and we stood.

"Do you miss being human?" asked Evra quietly as we got off the bus.

"Some parts of it. I wasn't bad off though, when you think about what's happened to others. You especially. I was kinda selfish but what's done is done," I shrugged, throwing my cup in the bin.

"See them?" I asked, pointing to some teens waiting at the bus stop "I probably knew them, it'd be great to run up and go "Hey guys!" Imagine what they'd be like!"

Evra laughed and we walked through the door of the hotel.

"When'll your arm heal?" he asked.

"Two weeks at the most according to Mr Crepsley," I was greatful, apparantly it would've taken a human a month.

"He definetely likes you," smirked Evra, he wouldn't stop saying that.

"Oh shut it!" I rolled my eyes as we walked into the lift "You're lucky you're my friend!"

"Or what?" he smirked.

"I'd make myself a pair of snakeskin boots."

That night we set off. We started off by getting a bus ride to the train station, the whole time Evra nudging me to give Mr Crepsley his present. I was nervous. Damn! Since when did I get all shy like this? What was I? 13? Well, I looked 15, but on the inside I was 17! It made me happy I'd already looked old for my age when I was a human. I wondered what age Mr Crepsley was. He looked around 30 at the most. I was about to pull the box from my pocket when the bus came to a halt.

I sighed and stood up, grabbing onto one of the bars. We made our way off the bus and walked into the train station.

"The train is in fifteen minutes," Mr Crepsley said.

I nodded and rubbed my eyes, I was exhausted and Evra kept elbowing me.

"Elbow me one more time and I'll pull your arms off," I yawned.

"Violent tendencies, Monica?" smirked Evra.

"Only towards you," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Aww, because I'm special?"

"No, because you're a pain in the ass."

I heard Mr Crepsley snort. We began walked towards the platform and we sat on those really hard metal seats that freeze your ass because they're cold as hell.

"Oi! Monica!" said Evra as I closed my eyes.

"Hmm?"

"There's a dude over there staring at you and Mr C's giving him some pretty fierce looks," Evra laughed.

"Only because I'm his assistant," I rolled my eyes (well, I would've if they were open) and sighed.

"Dude you're delusional," Evra chuckled.

I opened my eyes and laughed. It was times like that when I wished I had a heavier or thicker jacket. I looked at Mr Crepsley and sure enough, he was glaring at a boy around 16 standing on the same platform. He wasn't bad looking. He had the sort of "emo kid" look without looking like a transvestite, which was rare. He had messy brown hair which was slightly hidden by a black beanie, baggy jeans and one of those t-shirts where it has long sleeves under and then a t-shirt on top. He was carrying a Slipknot messenger bag, I used to like them.

He was looking at me. I shot him a small smile.

"Aww!" Evra said in a girly tone.

"Wait until you get a girlfriend, you'll regret this day," I smirked.

I stood and sighed.

"It's friggin' freezing," I muttered, running my good hand through my hair.

I felt a warm fabric being pulled around me. I looked up to see Mr Crepsley, he'd given me his cape.

"Thanks," I smiled, it was warm, and who doesn't want a red cape?

"Watch your language," he chuckled.

A loud beep and then a voice from the speakers informed us that the train was arriving. I grabbed the bag with everybody's stuff and we stepped forward. I glanced down the platform to see the guy who I'd dubbed "Slipknot dude" had gotten closer. The train soon pulled up and the doors opened. Mr Crepsley helped me onto the train since one arm was in a cast and the other was holding a bag so I couldn't pull myself up. I was glad to be off the cold platform. Whilst Mr Crepsley and Evra went to get seats, I tried to get the bag into the stuffed luggage holder with one hand, it proved pointless.

"Need help?" asked a voice.

I turned to see Slipknot dude smiling at me.

"Yeah," I sighed.

He chuckled and shoved some bags to the side and then put mine on the rack.

"Thanks dude, I'm Monica," I introduced myself, why couldn't I be this un-shy around Mr Crepsley?!

"Tom," he nodded "Cool cape."

"Thanks," I chuckled "My friend gave me it, I was cold."

"Ahh, the dude with the scar?"

"That's him. You travelling with anyone?"

"Nah, I'm being a loner," he laughed.

"You can sit with us if you want, we got a table seat thingy," I offered.

"Table seat thingy? Very poetic. I will but only if your friends won't mind?"

"Evra won't," I smiled, deliberately leaving out Mr Crepsley, but Tom didn't notice.

'This journey is either going to be awesome or hell on Earth.' I thought to myself as we walked through the train.

Thanks to: Symphony of Terror, Louis B, Quazety and XxPiratexNinjaxX Sorry if I missed you out, just let me know and I'll add you in the thanks in the next chapter. 


	9. Chapter 14

A/N: I loved writing this chapter. It's kinda hard to get just the right mix of friendliness and sterness in Larten's character so bear with me while I try to get him into character and make him seem...affectionate towards Monica, I guess. I'm re-reading the books though. I'm onto book 7, I can only hope I'm not reading book 9 in class incase I start crying . Oh, a question, I'm still a newbie to this sight and I was wondering, does the stories bit use BB code? I hail from Mibba :)

We walked through the train until I spotted the top of a head with orange hair. I slowed my pace slightly until we arrived.

"Hey, this is Tom, he helped me with the bag," I introduced.

Mr Crepsley nodded with a grim expression and Evra smiled and uttered a "hey, dude." Tom obviously recognised Mr Crepsley as the guy who was glaring at him so he sat next to Evra. I took the seat next to Mr Crepsley, almost cringing. He seemed to be eyeing Tom's lipring distastefully. Screw the lip ring, he was eyeing Tom distastefully!

"So...what's your guys' names?" asked Tom politely.

"Evra, awesome hat," Evra replied.

"Larten," Mr Crepsley grumbled.

Good thing he used his first name, it would be weird if I called my 'friend' Mr Crepsley.

"So Monica, what bands you into? You look like a heavy metal sorta girl," Tom asked.

"Ranges from Pink Floyd to My Chemical Romance to Slipknot," I shrugged.

"Haha, awesome, want an ear?" he asked, pulling out an i-pod.

"Sure," I nodded, picking up a headphone as Evra pulled his hat over his eyes, meaning he was going to sleep.

Mr Crepsley was still glaring at Tom. Maybe Evra was right, he's jealous. A familiar song began to play. Highway to Hell. I grinned.

"This song is smeggin' awesome!" I said and Tom turned up the music.

"Want to listen?" I asked, offering the earpiece to Mr Crepsley.

He looked at it weirdly and I let out a small laugh and held it to his ear. He wrinkled his nose and I took it back.

"I do not understand how you can listen to that," he muttered.

"Takes some getting used to," I shrugged and put the earphone back in my ear and then spoke to Tom "Mind if I see what music you have?"

He nodded and I began to scan through the i-Pod. I used to have one, it was older than that one but it worked in basically the same way. He had loads of bands I'd heard of and loads I hadn't heard of.

"So, Larten, awesome name dude. Where're you from?" asked Tom.

"Here," said Mr Crepsley through gritted teeth.

Either Tom was really stupid to not notice that Mr Crepsley hated him or he was too polite to say anything, probably the second one.

"Cool! I'm from up in Scotland. What school do you go to, Monny?" Tom replied cheerily.

"I'm uh...homeschooled," I said, it wasn't actually a lie, he didn't ask what I was taught!

"Awesome. What're you getting a train so late for anyway?" he asked curiously.

"I could ask you the same thing," I raised my eyebrows, smiling.

"I like travelling at night, it's so much quieter than day, you?"

"We've been busy all day so we decided to get a train at night," I shrugged.

We soon moved from small-talk to conversations and even debates about things. He was a really interesting dude! He kept flirting with me and I wasn't sure whether to flirt back or brush it off.

'To hell with it, this is the first time a guy's been interested in me for years!' I thought.

"So've you got email or anything?" Tom asked.

"You probably think I'm lying but no, I haven't," I sighed.

"Really? How?" he frowned.

"I have no need for it," I shrugged.

"Gah, I meet an awesome chick and I won't see her again," he frowned.

"Aww, is your emo heart breaking?"

"I'm not emo," he laughed, knowing I was winding him up.

"It sucks but I'll probably run into ya sometime," I sighed, the train would be stopping in 10 minutes.

"Hope so," muttered as the train began to slow.

Soon the train had pulled up and I was shaking Evra awake, he had slept through the whole journey!

"I'll help you with the bag," Tom said as I followed him through the train.

He got the bag down for me and I smiled. He was a right gentleman. It was rare to meet a nice guy for me.

"Thanks," I sighed as he helped me off the train.

Mr Crepsley and Evra got off the train too.

"Bye Evra, Larten," Tom nodded "Bye Monny."

He gave me a hug and kissed my cheek (Evra said Mr Crepsley was grimmer than ever when he did that). Once Tom left we made our way to the bus stop and waited for a bus to take us nearer the Cirque, after that the journey would be on foot.

A/N: Okay, so not really much going on there. I have plans though. Plans which people who love bad things happening in stories *cough*Symphony of Terror*cough* will love.

Thanks to: Symphony_of_Terror, ssw48 (thanks for the con-crit, dude, I'm glad to get some) and SilverVenom. 


	10. Chapter 15

A/N: Sorry for the rushed-ness at the start but I figured you guys wouldn't want to read a long description of a boring day. It would've been posted earlier if not for the crappy-ness of my internet connection.

I gave Evra his gift around five minutes into the bus-ride, he loved them. I was happy, it's kinda hard shopping for a snake-boy! Mr Crepsley wore a grim expression through most of the ride and it was really starting to piss me off! I mean what, was he PMSing? I snorted and pondered his reaction if I'd asked him that. He really did need to lighten up sometimes. He was pissier than a pregnant woman for the whole half-hour we were on the bus!

I was tired as hell during the walk to camp since I'd been barely getting any sleep, so the walk was silent apart from some mutters here and there. We were glad to finally be back at the Cirque when we did arrive. I seperated the stuff in the bag and took mine and Evra's stuff to the tent, leaving Mr Crepsley's at his van. I spent the whole day sleeping because I was knackered. Mr Tall let Evra and I have the day off so we could rest anyway, which was pretty awesome of him!

That night however, Mr Crepsley was still pissy. I began to get sick of it, I knew he was my mentor but I wouldn't put up with that!

"Okay, what the smegging hell is your problem?" I asked, at the last sarcastic remark he'd made.

"Do not talk to me like that-" he started.

"No! I'll talk however I want as long as you keep being as pissy as a hormonal pregnant woman!" I growled.

"How dare you-" he began.

"Tell me what the problem is!"

"It is rather embarassing when your assistant turns into a giggling fool!" he said at last.

"What the- This is about TOM?!" I snarled.

"You spent that whole train ride acting like a complete idiot!" he argued.

"What the fuck?! Sorry if you don't realise this but I am a teenage girl! Teenage. Girl! A guy hasn't payed attention to me in what? 4 or 5 years?! So I apologise if I'm happy about one guy in this fucking world being interested in me!" I hissed.

His face straightened and he sighed.

"Monica, I-" he began.

"Save it. Merry fucking Christmas," I growled, putting the box on the small table in his van and storming out.

Mr Crepsley wouldn't be able to go outside for atleast 15 minutes because the sun was still setting so I sat near the fire, thinking to myself. Why would he be mad about me talking to a guy? He sure as smeg didn't like me like Evra thought he did, if he did he wouldn't have been such an arse back there!

'He did try to apologise.' I thought.

But he acted like an idiot! How dare he call me a giggling fool! I sighed in annoyance and ran my hand through my hair, a growing habit.

"Somebody's annoyed," chuckled Hans Hands.

"Who?" I joked.

He chuckled.

"There's a show tonight," he informed me.

"There is? Oh, can I have Madam Octa back?" I remembered.

"I gave her to Evra, she gives me the creeps," he shuddered.

I nodded and then heard Mr Crepsley's van door opening.

"I gotta go, see ya later," I muttered, standing and making my way towards the tent, planning to pretend to sleep.

"Evra, if anybody looks for me can ya tell them I'm sleeping please?" I asked, walking in the tent and looked up to see Mr Tall.

"Heh...Monny? Mr Tall wants to talk to ya," Evra laughed at my shocked expression.

"Uh...yes sir?" I asked meekly.

"You are to perform tonight," he chuckled.

"How? I know! I could sing! That'd terrify the audience!" I said sarcastically.

"You argued with Larten," he said with a small smile.

"...Maybe," I shrugged.

"You will be his assistant," Mr Tall stated.

"I already am, check the scars on my fingers," I raised my eyebrows.

"I mean you will play the whistle on stage whilst Larten can not," he replied.

"I'd really LOVE to but I'd hate you put you out of a job?" I tried.

"Nice try, Monica. I shall be performing by myself since we are short on performers," he smirked.

"...I can't play the whistle?"

"You learned how to play the recorder at school when you were eleven, it's the same sort of thing."

"Damn."

Evra snorted at my last statement and Mr Tall left the tent.

"Love birds fighting?" teased Evra.

"Snakeskin boots!" I said in a sing-song tone.

I probably should've listened to Mr Crepsley apologise...But the anger got to me. Jeez, and I was calling HIM pissier than a pregnant woman! I sighed in annoyance. I needed to find Truska, even though she couldn't speak English, she was a mother figure in a way.

"Evra?" I asked.

"Mhmmm?" he asked.

"Could you take Madam Octa to Mr C? I don't really wanna talk to him right now," I sighed, running a hand through my hair.

"I will, but soon you're gonna have to talk to him, dude," Evra nodded.

"Thanks, Evvie-kins," I chuckled and he rolled his eyes.

I peeked out of the tent and looked around. He wasn't there. I legged it out the tent as fast as I could, towards Truska's van. When she saw me she smiled and pulled me in the van. I talked to her whilst she dragged a brush through my messy hair, she didn't bother with any make-up though, I had to look creepy, not pretty. Creepy was established with my pale face, dark circles under my eyes since I'd have to stay up late and wake up early, only grabbing short cat naps. Truska finished brushing my hair and then messed it up a bit (which made brushing it seem a bit pointless). I sighed once she was done. She had to go because she was on in the first half, Mr Crepsley and I were on in the second half.

After the show I'd apologise...probably.

A/N: I'd put the thanks up but I'm ill as hell right now and I need to sleep. I slept in a tent with my friend in her garden last night and it was -3 degrees out. Thanks to everybody who reviewed/favourited etc. I promise to put the thanks up in the next chapter. 


	11. Chapter 16

A/N: Anybody else seen the movie 'Marley and Me'? I cried my eyes out at the end which is rare for me, considering I laughed at 'Titanic'. I'm a bit better than I was since my last update which is good so updates might be a little faster/better because now I'm on the holidays from school. Sorry for the wait, I've been busy.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Darren Shan characters, unfortunately. I do own Monica, any other OC's and this plot (although some parts are based on parts of the book).

The first half of the show was good, the crowd loved it. They gasped in terror, laughed in amusement and their eyes widened in shock. The first half passed all too quickly, during it I had been putting the stuff you can buy onto the little carts to distract myself. The lights on the make-shift stage turned a red-ish colour, meaning Mr Crepsley and I had to go on stage. He stepped up on the opposite side from where I was. I then stepped up, keeping my expression cold. I looked across the crowd. It was quite full, well, most Cirque shows were.

We both bowed and then Mr Crepsley smiled sinisterly. Jesus, he could look creepy as hell when he wanted to! I kept my face emotionless, as I'd been told by Evra, to look more creepy.

"My name is Larten Crepsley, this is my assistant, Monica," he paused for a split second, trying to come up with a surname as fast as he could "Crepsley."

He wouldn't have been able to use my real surname, too risky. I saw the slightest shade of pink reach his cheeks and I heard a nearly inaudible snort from backstage, probably Evra. I tried not to let out a smile when he said that and I gave a small bow. He went on to explain about madam Octa as I got the cage and put it on the small table on stage. He finished his speech and warned the audience to be quiet. He then gave me a small nod and I opened the cage and Madam Octa crawled out. Judging by quiet gasps, the audience were as scared as I was when I was attending the show. He then took out the tin whistle. He was using the one I'd bought him. I fought back a small smile and watched as he made Madam Octa perform tricks.

I set up things when it was necessary, such as her little weight set. I was scared when it became time for me to use the whistle. I couldn't control spiders! Why the hell did Mr Tall ask me to do this? Wait, he wouldn't ask me if it would kill Mr Crepsley...would he? No! Of course he wouldn't. Mr Crepsley handed me the whistle and I gave him a look which screamed "I can't control spiders!" He gave a small nod as if to say "Just do it, don't worry."

I sighed and brought the whistle to my mouth. I began to play a simple song I'd learned at school, it was small but I was able to repeat it easily without much thought. I began to play it and thought as hard as I could.

'Walk up to Mr Crepsley....Please walk up to Mr Crepsley....Walk up to Mr Crepsley...please.' I thought desperately.

It took her a minute and she began to shakily walk up to him. If I concentrated any less she'd stop. It almost hurt how much I had to concentrate, almost wish, that she'd perform the tricks. By the end of the performance my head was hurting from concentrating so much. I walked off stage with Madam Octa's cage and sat down outside the tent.

"Freakin' headache," I muttered, putting my head in my hands.

"Will you forgive me?" came the voice of Mr Crepsley.

He sat next to me and I sighed.

"I shouldn't have been so pissy. Even if you did deserve a bit of it," I sighed.

He gave a small laugh at the end of my sentence.

"Just a question. Are you of your smeggin' head?" I asked, looking at him, still holding my head.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"What if I couldn't control her? I barely managed to and now I feel like I've been attacked with a frying pan! You could've died," I explained, exasperated.

"I had antidote in my pocket," he said simply "I wanted to see if you possessed talent with spiders. You do, but only a trace, it is not as easy for you as it is for me or Mr Tall to control Madam Octa."

"Just please tell me I won't have to do it again," I sighed.

"Only once more, we move tomorrow and then when we get to the new place you will be needed to perform in the first show, no more after that. Feel free to say no though, if you wish," he said.

"I'll only do it...because I'm awesome," I smirked.

He gave a small laugh.

"I almost forgot. Thank you for the gift. You didn't have to," he muttered.

"Christmas spirit," I shrugged with a small smile "Are there lessons tonight?"

"I am afraid so. You have not had any lessons since before we left the Cirque, correct?"

"I learned one thing," I shrugged.

He gave me a questioning look and I continued.

"Do not try to fight a vampaneze when you can't fight properly. You will get your ass kicked."

The rest of the night was spent with a lesson which lasted about 2 hours and then we just...talked.

"Can you teach me how to fight sometime?" I asked him.

"Have you ever been taught before?"

"My brother taught me basic punches and stuff. He did boxing and karate and stuff like that. He wanted me to be able to stand up for myself when he wasn't in England," I explained.

"You were close to him," Mr Crepsley stated.

"Yeah. He's nine years older than me so it would either be that we'd be really close or just not bother with eachother, luckily it was that we were really close. He put a guy in hospital for threatening me once," I grinned.

"I shall teach you to fight. Not tonight though, the sun shall be up soon," he said, standing.

"Mmkay, thanks Mr Crepsley. Good night...Or day.." I shrugged, standing too.

"Good day, Monica," he smiled and walked towards his van.

I walked back towards the tent and found Evra asleep. I had to be up in two hours so I quickly went to sleep. Lack of sleep was taking its toll on me. It was basically a case of "sleep for an hour or so, get up, do work, sleep for an hour or so" and the cycle repeated. The next day was spent taking down all the tents and packing everything up so we could move. Mr Tall already knew where we'd be sleeping, hell, he always knew. It was an old abandoned house or something, so we wouldn't need the tent. I was greatful in a way, it was murder putting the bloody thing up, never mind taking it down!

I was glad when we arrived at the new place. It was a good change, being indoors. Most of the performers decided that whilst we were there that they'd sleep somewhere in the house. Evra, Mr Crepsley and I decided to use the basement. Evra kept joking that it was so Mr Crepsley made sure we didn't "get up to stuff" as he put it, to which I gagged and wrinkled my nose. Mr Crepsley's coffin leant against one of the walls, I had claimed the corner next to it, Madam Octa was usually in between the coffin and my corner. Evra was situated sort of...diagonally infront of both the coffin and my corner.

"Where're you going?" I muttered sleepily from my corner one night as I saw Mr Crepsley getting ready to leave.

"I must hand out the papers," he said, holding up the Cirque Du Freak flyers, as if to prove his point.

"Should I come?" I yawned, sitting up.

Assistants were usually supposed to stick with their mentors.

"I think I can manage," he chuckled "You have not been getting enough sleep, you must rest."

"Mmkay...thanks," I said as I curled up on the blanket I'd found.

I was asleep before my head hit the make-shift pillow.

A/N: Righty-o. I'm including the thanks from the last chapter too. Thanks to: SilverVenom, marium, . and ToxicLollipopShock.  
Due to a suggestion by ., I'm going to re-write the chapters still in journal format when I get the time. Noticed the some-what bond between Larten and Monny? 


	12. Chapter 17

A/N: I'm kinda proud of myself right now. This is the first fanfiction I've wrote to live through the first 10 chapters and I haven't lost interest in it yet.

[b]Ignore this.[/b] Just testing if this site uses BBcode. Enjoy the chapter.

When I woke up I assumed it was day, due to the fact that Mr Crepsley's coffin was shut. I got up and stretched, wincing as I heard my joints click. I made my way up the stairs and out the basement. Evra was in the biggest room, helping put out chairs.

"You should've woken me up," I muttered, feeling guilty as I began putting out chairs too.

"I tried, you slept like the dead," he muttered and I snorted.

"Maybe I should get a coffin," I said sarcastically.

The house looked pretty cool. It was your classic haunted house you'd see in horror movies, right down to the last cobweb. I felt like I was on the set of The Addams Family.

"When's the next show?" I asked, climbing onto the stage, taking the small table we always had with me.

"Dunno, Mr Tall hasn't decided yet," Evra shrugged.

He was probably waiting for more people to buy tickets. It was pointless performing for 5 people, after all. The day passed faster that usual, probably because I woke up 3 hours later than I'd been used to. I was greatful though, it was a pleasant change to wake up and actually feel refreshed. The annoying thing was, I couldn't play the tin whistle without looking like a complete gorme. I had to bend my neck down a bit because of my bad arm and then hunch up my shoulder to get the arm higher so I could play with that arm. I had an awesome "hunchback of Notredam" look going on. I snorted to myself as I thought that.

A couple of days later we were told we'd be performing. I dreaded it in a way, knowing the evening would end with a headache which'd put me in a bad mood. This time Truska decided to put my hair in a ponytail. A cruel method of torture. She'd tutted when she saw my messy hair, sprayed some weird stuff in it which made it look less dirty and then dragged my hair up in a pony tail. I really needed a hair cut. When I first joined the Cirque my hair was just below my shoulders, it had grown to below my ribs! I hated having hair which was too long, it just got in the way. I'd have to ask Truska to cut it for me.

I grabbed Madam Octa from the basement before making my way up the stairs and into the room behind the stage. Mr Crepsley was already there, talking to Hans Hands. I sat with Evra, who had his snake wrapped around his arm.

"Hi Monica Crepsley," he teased as I sat down.

"Do you like having vocal chords, Evra?" I asked.

"Uh...yeah?"

"Then stop annoying me because I'll rip them out," I muttered.

"Need a therapist?" asked Evra with a laugh.

"Probably," I shrugged, putting the cage on my knee and looking at Madam Octa.

I'd never gotten used to her appearance. To be frank, she frightened the shit outta me. I winced and put her on the floor at my feet. I glanced around the room. It was dark, except for a few candles because the light switch had decided it didn't want to work. It looked bright to me though because of my vampire blood, it probably looked like daylight to Mr Crepsley.

Once it was time for the break, Evra left to find agood place upstairs where his snake could slither down from to give the crowd a shock. Mr Crepsley occupied his place once he left.

"How is your arm?" he asked, gesturing to my arm which was still bandaged and in it's sling.

"Not giving me any trouble," I shrugged.

"You should be able to unbandage it in a couple of days," he informed me.

"Thank God. I'm still gonna look like the hunchback of Notredam trying to perform," I snorted.

He looked confused.

"It's a book. I thought you'd be the kind who loved reading," I muttered.

"I am illiterate," he explained and then laughed at the look of shock on my face.

"W-what?" I asked, seriously shocked.

He seemed so...educated! Then again, you didn't have to be able to read and write to be smart, it just kinda helped.

"Why are you so surprised?" he laughed quietly.

"I dunno, I didn't really think about education and stuff back in the 1900's I guess," I shrugged.

"Many vampires are illiterate because of, well, our age," he explained.

From the crack under the door I saw the light go darker, meaning we had to go on stage. We both stood and I grabbed Madam Octa's cage. Once on the stage I set the cage on the table whilst Mr Crepsley made his speech (this time my name was Monica Horston, made me sound like a horse but he probably came up with it on the spot). I scanned the crowd. Usual bunch, some posh people, some people in track suits and then of course the Marilyn Manson look-a-likes. The only difference was two, well, two kids. One of them was staring at the cage, the other looked shocked and...scared? I resisted the urge to frown as Mr Crepsley gave the warning to be quiet. I opened the cage and stepped back slightly as Madam Octa crawled out.

He began to play the whistle and Madam Octa crawled to the front of the stage and some people went to move.

"Remember the warning, stay still," I said softly, but my voice carried around the room.

They seemed almost freaked out when I spoke, I must've looked creepier than I thought. As I did last time, I set up and put things away when needed and eventually I had to take over again. I shot Mr Crepsley a "you so owe me" look and began to play. As predicted, the performance ended with a migraine for me and an astounded audience. We walked off stage and went back to the room we were in previously.

"There was a kid in the audience. He looked smeggin' terrified when we walked on stage," I frowned.

"I know, I noticed," Mr Crepsley nodded.

"...He couldn't know, could he?" I asked, confused.

"He may. We shall wait until after the show and listen, he might say something to the boy who was with him," Mr Crepsley explained.

I nodded.

"What do we do if he knows?"

"I do not know," he admitted simply.

"We won't have to kill him, will we?" I asked.

"We might, if the worst situation occurs," he then noticed the panic in my eyes "But I shall not make you harm him, like I have said, I know that you are too kind hearted to murder."

I nodded and then sighed. I went to run a hand through my hair but I frowned, remembering it was tied back. I quickly pulled out the hair tie. I'd always hated having my hair up. We waited until the end of the show and listened. There were voices, hushed. Two boys, arguing it seemed.

"C'mon Steve."

"No...I have to stay behind, you go back, Darren."

I heard the sound of footsteps moving out of the room and then another set of footsteps moving around the room. Mr Crepsley gestured for me to follow him. He silently climbed up, above the stage. I followed. We watched silently as the boy looked around. He looked terrified.

"Looking for us?" Mr Crepsley hissed, jumping down, sounding strangely evil.

I jumped down beside him and stared at the boy.

"Y-Yes. I k-know who you are!" he said.

"I am Larten Crepsley," replied Mr Crepsley said simply.

"I know who you really are!" was the reply and I raised my eyebrows.

"You're a vampire! She's," he looked at me and I raised my eyebrows "Your assistant."

The kid looked like he was about to faint with nerves, maybe because we could kill him in an instant.

"It seems, Monica, that we have been found out," Mr Crepsley chuckled darkly "Well, boy, spit it out. Who sent you?"

"Nobody!" he protested.

"Do not play games with me, child. Who sent you?" Mr Crepsley snarled.

"I saw a portrait of you in a book!" the kid explained.

"Portrait?" I frowned, since when would Mr Crepsley be in a book?

The kid nodded "It said that he was engaged and when she found out he was a vampire she left him."

"As good a reason as any," said Mr Crepsley.

I felt bad for him, he must've loved her.

"What's your name, kid?" I asked.

"S-Steve Leonard," he said.

"Well, Steve, what exactly do you want? Money?" asked Mr Crepsley.

"No! I wanna be like you!" he said.

"We do not blood children, the generals would have my head," Mr Crepsley sneered.

"What about her?!" protested Steve.

"She was older than you," he said simply, it wasn't a lie, I was about 3 years older than him when I was blooded.

The kid continued begging and even resorted to threatening us! How dare he! He'd give up his friends and everything to be a vampire. I'd have been willing to when I was a human but once I'd turned into a vampire I'd realised how stupid I'd been.

"I see we are left with no other choice, I must turn him," sighed Mr Crepsley toward me.

"Don't expect me to be nice to the smeghead," I growled.

"I never expect you to be nice to anybody," was the reply I recieved which almost made me laugh.

"I must test your blood first," Mr Crepsley muttered, as he had to me when I was about to be turned.

Only what happened next was nothing like what happened with me. He spat out the blood and began coughing.

"Are you okay?!" I panicked.

He continued coughing.

"Your blood is tainted! You are evil!" he hissed.

My head shot up to look at the boy. He looked gutted and his eyes were filling with tears. I sighed, feeling slightly bad, he was just a kid. He couldn't have been more than twelve.

"Isn't that a bit harsh?" I sighed "He's only a kid."

"I know evil when I taste it, and that boy is full of evil!" Mr Crepsley said, still spitting occasionally.

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair.

"Its not true!" the boy hissed "I'm not evil!"

"Evil runs through your veins, boy, you can not become a vampire!" Mr Crepsley hissed.

"You're wrong! You'll regret this! I'm gonna grow up...and I'm gonna become a vampire hunter! I'll kill you both!" he said.

I raised an eyebrow as he legged it out the room.

"Good luck with that, mate," I muttered.

AN: Long update haha. This story'll end up being pretty long since it's kinda through the books. But it's alot of behind the scenes stuff. *Spoiler* Like in the 8th book when Darren stays behind at the hotel so the other princes and stuff can go to Paris Skyle's funeral, Monica'll be going to the funeral, get it? *spoiler*

Thanks to: deathpenity17 - Thanks for all the reviews!

SilverVenom - True, the chick from Titanic should've gone on a diet or something. It's pretty funny when she's all "wake up Jack!"

ToxicLollipopShock - Thanks dude :)

Hey guys, it's all capitalized on my laptop where I wrote it so I've re-posted it and hopefully it'll work.


	13. Chapter 18

A/N: Sorry for the lack of caps-lock in the last chapter at first, but I fixed it. Considering this is my first fanfic which has gotten this far, I'm finding it hard getting them together 'cause I want it to be perfect but not OOC or rushed or, well...bad haha I was an inch from getting them together in this chapter. I was crying in registration when I finished reading the vampire war trilogy, it earned me some very weird looks. Sorry for the wait, I'm working on a joint story over on so I've been working on that. Originally you would've had this yesterday, but some major crap went down with my friends.

Enjoy the chapter.

Later that night Mr Crepsley explained to me about evil blood. Apparantly it tasted like rotten milk (which I guessed because after the incident, he spent about a half hour spitting and washing out his mouth with water.) We sat outside during the night as he explained. I was freezing. I'd probably ask Truska for a kick ass cloak like Mr Crepsley's.

"I hate winter," I muttered, annoyed.

"Why is that?" asked Mr Crepsley.

"Because it's freezing and my family didn't think dead people need coats when they're buried," I muttered.

Mr Crepsley chuckled and a warm red fabric was pushed into my hands.

"No, you'll freeze," I rolled my eyes.

"I am not the one with short sleeves," he answered.

"Damn you and your logic," I grumbled "...Thanks."

I stood up, put the cloak on and then sat back down.

"Do you miss being human?" I asked, softly.

"I can barely remember it, it was such a short period of time compared to how long I have been alive," he explained.

"So, in like 50 years I might not remember most of the stuff I do now?"

"You will remember important things, your diary would help you remember," he said.

"I only started it like 4 days before I went to see the Cirque show," I mumbled.

"Well atleast you have recorded your last memories as a human."

"S'pose so. You think that kid'll do anything?"

"I doubt it, he shall be too scared. Anyway, who would believe him if he ran around raving about vampires?" Mr Crepsley chuckled.

"I probably would've when I was 12, but then again, I used to be practically obsessed with all that stuff," I shrugged.

"Is that why you were so willing to be a vampire?"

"That and I despised my life," I explained.

Mr Crepsley went to ask why but I shook my head.

"Nuh-uh, it's my turn to be all mysterious and all 'That is a story for another night,'" I smirked, mimicking his voice.

"Rude little girl," he muttered, but I could tell he was joking.

"Smeghead," I replied simply.

At that point I really wasn't sure how I felt for Mr Crepsley. We were friends obviously. I still had that crush on him but I wasn't sure if it was just admiration or something. He was hot, hell, anybody would admit that! I did enjoy the random conversations we'd have after shows or lessons. Plus, he wouldn't like me. I just didn't think of myself as his type. Jesus, I sounded emo!

"Monica? Monica?" came a voice, pulling me out my thoughts.

"Wha-"I jumped.

"You must be tired," Mr Crepsley chuckled.

"Hmm? No, I just zoned out," I muttered.

"Anyhow, you have had a busy day, you shall be exhausted tomorrow and I do not wish to keep you up," he said.

"Fine," I gave in and stood up, taking off his cloak "G'night Mr C."

"Goodnight, Monica," he nodded as I walked in.

I headed towards the basement, it was colder down there than outside. I was careful not to trip over Evra as I headed towards my corner. I curled up on my blanket and sighed happily. To think, about three years previously I would've wrinkled my nose and laughed at the thought of sleeping on a blanket in some basement, thinking about the vampire I had a crush on. I let out a nearly inaudible chuckle and slowly fell asleep.

I was shaken awake by Evra the next morning, he was laughing.

"What you laughing at? You little psycho," I grumbled sleepily.

"Your lover left you a present," he cooed.

I reached up to slap him but I was stopped by red fabric covering me. I raised my eyebrows.

"So what? I must've looked cold!" I defended "It's freezing down here!"

"Sure," he said sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes and stood. I folded the cloak and put it next to Mr Crepsley's coffin.

"C'mon. Is there a show tonight?" I asked, stretching.

"Think so. We have a new arrival," Evra explained "Gertha Teeth, she's kinda loud. Just like you!"

"I'll have you know, I'm incredibly shy!" I sniffed, jokingly.

"Sure and my skin is blue," he laughed.

"Really?!" I gasped "Since when?! I don't see a difference!"

"Idiot," he laughed as we began to walk up from the basement.

"Feeding the wolfman first?" I asked.

"Yep. Then the little people, then Madam Octa," he shrugged.

Funny how that had become normality for me! Thankfully, since Gertha Teeth had arrived, that night I didn't need to endure another show and I could just sit "backstage" whilst the show was on. I'd met her but I didn't really like her. Pride is cool and all but she's very...In your face in a way. The show passed without much event, then afterwards was the usual chat with Mr Crepsley. I'd told him of my plans to get a cloak, to which he'd chuckled and said "Soon you shall be talking like me."...Highly doubt it.

The next morning, for once I woke up before Evra after grabbing 5 hours of sleep. I took Mr Crepsley's cloak off of me and silently thanked him, I'd grown to resent the cold basement, the tent Evra and I usually slept in kept all the heat in.

"I'll feed Madam Octa and then wake up Evra," I muttered to myself, reaching for Madam Octa's cage.

It wasn't there. I frowned and looked around the room. I couldn't spot the cage. Fuck!

"Evra! Evra! Evra!" I hissed, panicking.

"Hmm?" he yawned, waking up.

"Did you move Madam Octa?" I asked with wide eyes.

"Why would I?" he laughed.

"Because I can't smeggin' find 'er!" I said, glancing around the room again.

"Wait, what's that?!" I asked, noticing a note stuck to the wall.

We both ran to it and I snatched it off the wall. It was stuck on with chewing gum, obviously I wasn't dealing with anybody dangerous.

"I have Madam Octa. Don't try and get her back, I know what you both are. P.S. I am not Steve, he has nothing to do with this," I read aloud in a sarcastic tone "Wow, I wonder who it could be!"

Evra snorted "You gonna wake your lover up?"

"One, yes and two, he's not my lover!" I sighed.

"But you wish he was!"

"Evra?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut it!"

"No!"

I raised one eyebrow "What was that?"

"Nothing!" he pulled an innocent smile and bolted.

I sighed and knocked on Mr Crepsley's coffin lid.

"Good morning starshine, the Earth says hello!" I said in a fake cheery tone, I couldn't resist.

"Why did you wake me before sun rise?" he grumbled, pushing the lid off.

"Well...ya see..." I sighed.

"Monica, what is it?" he sighed.

I handed him the note and he raised an eyebrow.

"Heh, sorry, I forgot..." I muttered and read the note to him.

"We'll track him down tonight, the little fool has underestimated us," he chuckled.

"Does this mean leaving the Cirque for a while?" I asked.

"Yes, you must remember, the Cirque is just a sort of cover story we use to stay undetected, no matter how much we enjoy living with it," he reminded me.

"I know, I know. Thanks for lending me your cloak again," I nodded with a small smile.

"It is no problem," he replied with his own smile.

After that he went back to sleep and I ventured upstairs to help put everything away.

A/N: Sorry for the crappy-ness, next one should be better though. I just got my school report and I need to focus more on my homework though so .

Thanks to:

Deathpenity17

SilverVenom

Symphony_of_Terror

ToxicLollipopShock

marium


	14. Chapter 19

A/N: Yeah, I'm kinda taking more time to post because of school stuff. I finished reading the saga last night, I love the ending. I'm onto reading Dracula now :).

That afternoon the Cirque left, but Mr Crepsley and I remained behind.

"Aww, Evvie-kins I'm gonna miss you!" I laughed, hugging him.

"Aww, Monny-kins, I'm gonna miss you too!" he snorted, hugging me back.

"You're gonna be totally lost without me," I sighed.

"How?" he snorted.

"You see, since I put your massive ego down so much, whilst I'm gone you're gonna get big-headed and I'll have to practically decapitate you to get you back to normal!" I sighed dramatically.

"Oh, I feel so sorry for you." he laughed.

"Dude, don't miss me too much," I grinned.

"Same goes for you," he nodded.

With that they left. That night at around 8, Mr Crepsley got up. It was pretty obvious that Steve's friend had stolen Madam Octa, we only had to find him. Since I didn't know what I was doing, the first night, Mr Crepsley went out alone whilst I slept. The second night was better. Since Mr Crepsley had found the kid the night previously, he was apparantly called Darren Shan, so we basically staked out his house.

"We shall head back early tonight," Mr Crepsley decided as we were huddled on the roof, it was freezing.

"I have a question..." I said, shutting my eyes tiredly.

"Yes?"

"Why don't we just run in there, pull some awesome ninja vampire moves, take Madam Octa and leg it?" I asked, stiffling a yawn and leaning against him slightly.

*Larten's POV*

She leant against me slightly, I could tell she was tired. I gave a small smile before replying.

"I shall not tell you the whole idea for you will not be happy about it. I shall just say that lately, I have been thinking of you as more of a friend than an assistant," I admitted.

When I did not recieve a reply from her I looked down and gave a quiet laugh. She had fallen asleep.

*Monica's POV*

It'd been about a week living in that hell hole, oh, I mean house. There were bugs everywhere. I don't mind the occaisonal spider aslong as it's small but there's like five of them in the basement. I was delighted when Mr Crepsley had flitted back to the basement and told me get on his back.

"What's happened?" I asked as he began to flit.

"Madam Octa bit the boy," he explained "It was earlier today, I heard them talking about it."

"Shan?" I asked.

"No, the evil one, his friend," he smirked as we reached the house.

I heard a racket coming from the boys bedroom, he was throwing things.

"I think he's upset," I muttered sarcastically, just in time to see a cage fly from the window.

Quick as a flash, Mr Crepsley jumped out and caught it. I stepped out of the shadows and looked up with a smirk at Darren Shan's mortified face.

"Do we flit?" I asked, quietly.

"No, we walk," Mr Crepsley replied, giving a grim smile to the boy.

We began to walk off.

"Do we let the evil one die?" I questioned.

"I do not see why not. But I have a feeling Master Shan shall disagree," he chuckled.

"So we leg it back to the Cirque?" I guessed.

"Not quite," was the reply I recieved.

"...Why not? We have no business here anymore. We have Madam Octa. I didn't exactly miss her, but you know," I frowned.

"I think it is time to tell you of my plan," he sighed.

"Your plan?" I frowned again.

"Yes. I have noticed the toll working has taken on you for you do your chores with Evra and then at night you have a lesson and then you sit and chat with me, which I enjoy. But that has left you not getting enough sleep for by that time you have been up all day and then you are trying to stay awake at night, going to bed around 3 hours before you have to get up," he explained.

"...What's this gotta do with the kid?" I asked.

"I have been thinking, Monica. If you had another person to half your workload, things would be much easier for you," he continued.

"No! Please tell me you're not thinking what I think you're thinking!" I said, stopping.

He just sighed and stopped too.

"You can't! You freakin' saw how much it affected me to leave my family like that! You even told me you regretted it! Now you want to do that to somebody else, even younger than I was?!" I hissed "Shows how much you bloody regretted it!"

"I do regret it. I do not lie unless completely necessary, you know that. But this shall help you," he explained.

"I don't give a smeggin' hell if it'll help me! I don't want another person torn away from their family! Yeah, it was my fault that I became a vampire and I do enjoy some parts of it, hell, I have nobody to blame but myself! But by the sounds of it, you're not gonna give this boy much of a choice!" I argued.

He seemed to be running out of things to say, hopefully he was realising I was right.

"Monica, no matter how well we may get on, I am still your mentor and it is not your place to question me," he said.

I raised my eyebrows at that and then glared.

"Go to hell," I growled and took off to the house.

That last comment had really pissed me off. Pompous git! Fine, if he was going to be like that, to hell with him. Two could play that game. He would've easily been able to catch up with me, if he had wanted to. When I arrived at the house, I went straight to the basement and sat in my corner. Mr Crepsley arrived a few minutes later.

"The way I explained it must have made you think that I am only planning on changing him because of you. I have two reasons. He has the makings of a fine vampire," he muttered.

"I don't see why you're telling me this, sir. It is none of my business," I said, forcing sarcasm out of my tone.

He sighed and soon resided to his coffin, not before taking off his cloak and putting it next to my corner. Did he honestly think I'd take it? I wouldn't, I was stubborn. I shivered as the room decided to remind me how cold it was. I glared at the cloak and vowed to ignore it as I curled up. Why would he want to blood another person? He'd observed how miserable I'd been. Then when he was actually pushed for a good reason he tries to act all superior?

I was soon drawn into a rather cold, uncomfortable sleep. I wondered how many nights I could keep it up.

Thanks to:

Symphony Of Terror

SilverVenom

marium


	15. Chapter 20

A/N: Just a question out of curiosity. Based on my writing, how old do you guys think I am? Feel free to say my writing is like that of an 8 year old haha. I probably won't reveal my age so I can seem all mysterious (epic fail).

I woke up a few minutes before sunset. The cloak was still there, folded up beside me. I sighed and wished the boy had never decided to steal Madam Octa. I glanced at her and sighed. Stupid bloody beast. Soon the boy would most likely be a half vampire. Another young life ruined. I stood and stretched as some of my joints clicked.

None of my rage had worn off whilst I was sleeping. I glared at the cloak, still folded up beside me. I resisted the urge to stamp on it and left the basement, in search of a warmer room. I found an old room which looked somewhat like a living room. I managed to start a fire in the fireplace and I curled up on one of the armchairs next to it.

Soon enough Mr Crepsley appeared and he sat down on another one of the armchairs as he produced a packet of cards and began to lay them out.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked.

I wasn't sure if he was trying to annoy me because he'd obviously noticed that I hadn't touched the cloak.

"Yes, thank you, sir," I replied in a tone of which I would speak to a teacher at school.

We sat in what have been and uncomfortable silence, but I was tangled up in my thoughts to notice much. I did, however, notice when the door opened and a terrified young boy walked in. Mr Crepsley scared him for a while and was basically a complete ass.

"Then Steve Leonard dies," shrugged Mr Crepsley as Darren refused to be blooded.

"Just leave, kid. You're better off without him," I murmered.

Both heads shot to me as it had been the first time I'd spoken.

"He's my best friend!" the boy growled.

"He's evil. Make another one. Just don't do this," I sighed and went back to humming, ignoring whatever reply he gave me.

I heard a hiss of pain and I glanced up. Mr Crepsley had began cutting the boy's fingertips. I glared at him, which I made sure he saw when he glanced at me. The boy was whining whilst the vampire blood entered his system, and soon the blooding was complete.

"Do you wish to accompany us to the hospital?" asked Mr Crepsley.

"No," I stated plainly.

"We shall be back or you," he replied.

"Lucky me."

With that, they left. I was pissed. He said he had other reasons...was I not a good enough assisstant? He had to have a bettr excuse rather than "Oh...you look tired! Let me go blood another kid, which I totally regret by the way!" I was happy, to say the least, when Mr Crepsley returned alone.

"The boy ran," he muttered.

"Good."

"I see you have given up on formalities," he replied grimly.

"Fuck formalities, you're a right arsehole, you know that?" I growled.

"Watch your tongue!" he growled back.

"No," I hissed "I've lost all respect I ever had for you!"

"Monica, I have already told you, this is none of your-" he started but I cut him off.

"Oh, it bloody well is! I'll have to put up with the little smeghead when he goes through his little emo stage!" I argued.

"...Emo?" he frowned.

"Not the point. Plus, you've just ripped the kid away from his life! Yeah, he's ran, but he's sure as hell gonna come back after he probably kills somebody!" I sighed.

"Well hopefully it will not come to that."

"Yeah, hopefully," I said, sarcastically.

A/N:Sorry for how short this is, I originally planned to make this chapter longer but I just remembered about some homework I have due for tomorrow and I only have an hour to do it so I thought I'd post this now. Is it bad that I loved writing the arguement? Haha, more out soon hopefully.

Thanks to:

SilverVenom

Symphony of Terror

marium


	16. Chapter 21

I waited until the next evening, a few hours before sunset before taking off. I was going to talk to Darren, hopefully to let him know I had no part in wanting him to become a vampire. I remembered where his house was from when I staked it out with Mr Crepsley. As I sat on the roof I remembered when I had fallen asleep on Mr Crepsley's shoulder. I smiled lightly at the memory and then scowled.

"Stop it!" I hissed to myself as I peered through Darren's bedroom window.

The coast was clear. I climbed through the window and shut it behind me. He must've been eating his dinner, for I heard voices down the stairs. I looked through his book collection, most of them were comics. I smiled as I found some Batman ones. I used to love Batman. I pulled out one and began to read. I'd been sitting on a chair near a desk, reading for about 10 minutes when I heard feet coming up the stairs. I returned the comic to it's place just intime when Darren walked in.

He started in fright when he saw me and then calmed down.

"What're you doing here?! I have two days!" he said, reminding me of myself when Mr Crepsley had visited me around three years ago.

"I know. I came to talk," I explained.

"How did you get in?"

"The window was open," I shrugged.

"No it wasn't," he frowned.

"It was after I threw a brick at it," I smiled.

"Am I going mad?"

"I hope not."

He stared at me, wide eyed. He faintly resembled a deer in headlights.

"Joke. You'll get used to my sense of humour," I shrugged.

He winced at the thought of leaving.

"...Sorry..." I sighed.

"It's alright...what is it you wanted to talk about?" he frowned.

"It wasn't my decision for you to become a vampire...I was and still am, dead set against it," I explained.

"What age were you when you were blooded?" he asked curiously.

"Fifteen, I was given more of a choice than you though, I pretty much asked for it," I sighed running a hand through my hair "Mentally, I'm 17 and a half now."

"Is it bad being an assisstant?" he asked.

"It's tough at the best of times, how'd you think I got these?" I asked, running my fingertips over some faint scars I'd recieved from the fight with vampaneze.

"How's the evil one?" I asked.

"He's not evil!" Darren hissed "and he's recovered."

"He is. Mr Crepsley made that pretty darn obvious. I didn't come here to argue anyways. Just answer some questions you might have and tell you I didn't have any part in it," I shrugged "Questions?"

"Will I be able to see my family again?" he asked.

"Doubt it. I faked my death, you'll probably do the same. It'll be better for you not to see them after that, let them deal with greif and carry on, ya know?"

He nodded sadly. We chatted for a while and I noticed that Darren wasn't too different to how I used to be. About an hour later I stood and sighed.

"I better get going, you look tired. Don't you have school or something tomorrow?" I asked, running a hand through my hair.

"It's Saturday," he said.

"Is it? Cool. Anyways, I need to get away and think of an excuse to tell Mr Crepsley," I muttered "Don't tell him I came here."

"'Kay. Bye Monica," he nodded.

"See ya," I said before climbing out the window and onto the roof.

From the roof I climbed down a drainpipe and out of the front garden. The rain made the night even colder and gradually drenched me as I calmly walked back. I had often liked the rain. Sure, it was a pain in the ass when you got indoors and had to get dried off but it was nice just walking around in the rain. As a human I'd have been paranoid about being attacked out in the streets at that tie of night, but as a vampire I knew I could easily break somebody's arm and leg it.

I soon arrived at the old house and I walked in. I saw light from under the door in the "living room". I walked in, shaking my head like a dog would to dry itself. Mr Crepsley looked up from his chair and gave me a look as if I'd ran in and suddenly burst into song.

"Yeah?" I asked brightly, as if I wasn't soaking.

"...Do I want to know where you have been?" he asked, seemingly exasperated.

"...Probably not."

I sat on the armchair which I had claimed as my own and let the fire warm me up. I closed my eyes and yawned as sleep began to beckon me.

"Monica," said Mr Crepsley, snapping my out of my near-sleep state.

"Mmm nyeah?" I mumbled, opening my eyes.

"I wish to do something which I rarely do," he said.

"Oh my god...You're gonna sing?" I asked, almost laughing at the thought of him singing.

"No. I wish to apologise," he rolled his eyes.

"Hmm?" I frowned.

"I think that it is pointless for us to continue barely talking about something which cannot be changed, when we could just as easily be ma-friends," he said.

"May friends?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"Never mind that," he coughed, going pink, what was up with him?

"O..kay?" I shrugged.

"Anyways, do you wish to start over?" he said, his face slowly returning to white.

"...One condition," I shrugged.

"Yes?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I get to borrow your cape again," I smiled.

He chuckled and handed me the red fabric. I grinned and pulled it around me, I'd missed it.

"I went to see Darren tonight. He's not a bad kid," I sighed.

His face held a look of shock.

"You really went to talk to him?" he asked.

"Yeah. Why're you so shocked?" I laughed.

"You seemed rather resentful of him," he explained.

"I was resentful of the fact that he said yes to being a vampire," I shrugged, ending the subject "Hey....can vampires get tattoo's?"

"I do not see why not...why?" he asked, frowning.

"...No reason," I gave the fakest innocent smile, just to see how he'd react.

"You are not getting a tattoo," he said, simply.

"Suuuure."

I so totally was...when I could pass for 18...which'd be in like 15 years. Damn it.

A/N: Sorry, but if I want to post this chapter tonight I need to skip the thanks, you're all awesome though. I thought I'd end the update on a light note, plus, I love the idea of Monica getting a tattoo. I'm not too happy with this chapter though, perhaps I'll go back and re-edit it sometime. Also, this is the longest story I've ever wrote and stuck to without getting bored or losing inspirated or simply being too lazy to continue. Yay me?


	17. Chapter 22

I opened my eyes and smiled at the familiar red fabric keeping me warm. I stretched out like a cat and then contemplated on going back to sleep before I realised what was going to happen that night. We would be digging up Darren. I sighed and stood. Mr Crepsley's coffin was empty so I figured he was already awake. I took the cloak with me up the stairs and into the living room. Sure enough, he was seated on an arm chair. I handed him the cloak and then sat on my arm chair.

"When're we gonna leave?" I asked, pulling on my boots.

"Soon."

"What if something went wrong when you threw him out the window? The potion can't be that safe." I asked.

"..Well actually, there is great risk of actually dying when you drink the potion," he said sheepishly.

"What?!" I frowned.

"It could bring you too close to death and you would not recover. You could go mad because of the itches when feeling returns in your limbs. You could be in the coffin too long and you could suffocate," he shrugged.

"And you didn't deem in necessary to tell me that like two years ago?!" I raised my eyebrows.

"You are alive, are you not?" he asked.

"Hopefully."

He rolled his eyes and we began to head out. Once we were at the cemetary, I sat on one of the headstones and watched as Mr Crepsley began to dig up Darren. I offered to help but he said I needn't bother. I sat and hummed to myself as Mr Crepsley dug and eventually I heard him talking to Darren. I stood and helped him out of the hole and he winced. Mr Crepsley quickly checked him over before he began filling the grave again. Darren walked around to stretch his legs and I resumed my place on the headstone, humming. Ironically enough, I found myself singing a song called Vampires Will Never Hurt You. I laughed lightly to myself and glanced around, not seeing Darren I frowned.

"Darren? You alright?" I called out.

"Y-Yeah, fine," I heard him call back from somewhere.

I shrugged and glanced over to Mr Crepsley who had basically finished filling the grave. I stood and stretched, running a hand through my hair.

"We goin'?" I mumbled.

"Yes. We must first give him time to say goodbye to his home," he sighed.

I nodded "I feel bad for him..."

"As do I," Mr Crepsley replied, putting an arm around me.

I forced a blush away from my cheeks as I watched Darren stand on a headstone to gaze over his home.

"Does it ever get any easier?" Darren asked me, sadly.

"I was gutted after leaving my home...not so much other cities," I explained.

"Are you over it?" he asked and Mr Crepsley looked at me for my answer.

"No, not completely. I doubt I ever will completely get over it. But I've made new friends, like a second family. Hopefully you'll do the same," I sighed.

He nodded and Mr Crepsley gestured for him to get on his back. He then lifted me up and began to flit.

"It shall be better when you are a full vampire, Monica. Then you will be able to flit," he sighed, obviously bothered by having to carry two people.

"You're building character," I gave a small laugh at the look he gave me.

"Well then I shall put you down and you can run to the next city. I am sure that will build alot of character," he joked and I grinned.

"Nahh, I think I'll pass. Maybe next time. Anyway, you'd miss my pretty face too much," I joked.

Darren and Mr Crepsley rolled their eyes at the same time. I was just nodding off when I felt Mr Crepsley shaking me.

"Gah! No!" I whined as he placed me on my feet.

"Go to sleep when we get inside," he chuckled, gesturing to some old abandoned church.

"This...is...creepy...as...hell," I muttered, looking at a huge carved crucifix in the wall as we walked in.

"I take it you're not religious," muttered Darren, looking around.

"Athiest when I was human. I believe in the vampire Gods now," I shrugged, stretching out on a pew.

"Wait. We're staying here?!" he squeaked, staring at me.

"Yup. Sucks, dunnit?" I asked, sighing.

"It's weird," he frowned.

"I've been sleeping on a basement floor for the past two weeks or so, I'll take this thing quite happily," I shrugged, ending the topic and closing my eyes.

I felt warm fabric surround me and I smiled and uttered a thanks, knowing it was the cloak. Soon, all was silent. I heard Darren tossing and turning a couple of times and couldn't help but feel sorry for him, he had been thrown into a new world and now he was expected to sleep in an old abandoned church. I made a mental note to ask Mr Crepsley if we could return to using hotels. I thankfully drifted off, only to be met with a terrible nightmare.

I opened my eyes and was in my old room. But, the thing was. It wasn't mine. My Joker, My Chemical Romance and Cradle Of Filth posters had been replaced by posters of Rhianna and Britney Spears. The walls had gone from dark pink to a bright, sickly lilac. I went to lift my navy clue covers only to see pink playboy bunny covers in their place. Where was my guitar? Where was my Xbox? Where the fuck were my artbooks? I frowned and stood and walked out. Everything else looked the same. I slowly walked downstairs as the sun shone on my cold skin from the windows. I padded into the living room and then into the dining room. There was my family, but there was one girl I didn't recognise.

They were talking - laughing, but I couldn't hear what they were saying. I tried calling on them, anything to get attention but they didn't hear. I let out a frustrated growl and closed my eyes. But when I opened them I was back in the church. Mr Crepsley's cloak surrounding me, comforting me. Darren in the pew next to mine.

I frowned and stood shakily. What if they had adopted another daughter? Wait, I couldn't care! No! I left them, they had every right to find a girl who wouldn't leave them for a freak show. I sighed and sat on the floor, my head in hands.

"Are you okay, Monica?" asked a voice and I jumped in shock.

I looked up to see Mr Crepsley staring down at me, an eyebrow raised.

"No..." I muttered shakily.

He sat on the pew I had previously been lying on and gestured for me to sit beside him. I did and he put an arm around me.

"What is wrong?" he asked, concerned.

"I had a nightmare. I was in my old house, in my room. But...It wasn't mine anymore," I sniffed.

"They had adopted another child?" he asked.

"Yeah. But I dunno why I got upset...I'm over them! They have every right to get another, better daughter," I explained.

"You are not fully over them. You never will be. They were your family, you will always miss them as long as you can remember them. Perhaps your conversation with Darren about family triggered this," he said, somewhat comfortingly.

"I know...But I thought I was," I sighed.

"Put it this way. If I told you that somehow you could return to being human, go back to your family and pretend that none of this happened, would you?" he asked.

"...No," I eventually decided.

"And why not?"

"Because...I'm happy. I have awesome friends," I sighed.

"And would your answer have been the same a year ago?"

"Probably not..."

"You see, you have slightly gotten over them. It would always take time for you to fully get over them," he said.

"Thanks Mr C," I nodded, hugging him "Anyways...why DID you say May Friends? Is that like...a vampire term or something?"

A light pink shade returned to his face.

"Erm...I shall explain that to you when we return to the Cirque. I think you had better get more sleep."

A/N: It would've been longer but to be frank, I'm pissed. A "friend" of mine has invited herself AND her 9 year old sister to the movies with my and my other friend. My dad hates her so he's going mad at me. Jesus Christ, sometimes I think friends aren't worth the effort. She won't take no for a freaking answer either. Dude...since when did I turn into a little emo kid? Heh...

Thanks:

SilverVenom

Symphony of Terror (once again, I find myself pimping out her story, go read it. Now!)

marium

akane sarumara


	18. Chapter 23

Darren wasn't adapting well to vampirism. He was turning more emo by the hour. I couldn't blame him, but it was irritating at the best of times.

"I might go out shopping with him today," I shrugged "I need new clothes."

"Do you need money?" Mr Crepsley asked.

"Heh...Yeah," I muttered.

"Do not be afraid to ask me for money, Monica," he chuckled and handed me a wad of money.

"Yay! Thanks!" I grinned hugging him and running outside the church to get Darren.

"C'mon kid, we're going shopping," I grinned.

"I'm not a kid," he huffed.

"Ya are to me now move it," I laughed as he stood and followed me.

"Why're we going shopping?"

"I need new clothes, I've had these since I was buried and this thing is turnin' into a mini skirt," I replied, gesturing to my skirt.

"How long are we gonna be?"

"Dunno. You can go explore if you want. But don't go too far. Jesus, I sound like a mum," I growled the last part.

"Are you Mr Crepsley's girlfriend?"

That one shocked me.

"What?!" I spluttered "Have you been talkin' to Evra? I'll kill the little shit!"

"Who's Evra?" he frowned.

Oh, I'd forgotten he hadn't met him.

"Nobody. Why did you ask that?" I asked, composing myself.

"You're all lovey dovey," he wrinkled his nose "Kinda sickening actually."

"No we're not! We're simply good friends," I huffed as we made our way towards the shops.

"Suuure," he rolled his eyes.

"Look, short-shit. Go explore or something, I need to buy clothes," I rolled my eyes.

He nodded and took off. Eager much? I laughed lightly and walked into a nearby dark looking shop. I used to go to shops like that all the time when I was younger. I decided I needed a change. I still wanted a circus-y gothic-ish look. Maybe black and white? Yeah. About an hour later I'd left with two bags, one with clothes in and another with shoes. I'd need to ask Truska for a hairbrush when we returned to the Cirque, I hadn't realised how scruffy I actually looked.

I went to a public toilet and got quickly changed in the cubicle. My skirt and leggings were replaced with simple black trousers. My black shirt and red tie was replaced by a white shirt with three-quarter length sleeves and a stylish black waistcoat. My simple black boots had been replaced by white Doc Martens. Finally, I had chosen to add a black trilby hat to the mix. But the whole thing that finished it off was the black cload I'd found. It didn't have a high collar like Mr Crepsley's, it connected by a small silver chain. I smiled as I left the cubicle, my old clothes were in the bags. I looked good. More grown up, if that was possible for a half vampire.

I smiled and left the toilets and decided it was time to find Darren. He was on a scrap of grass, playing hockey with some kids. Oh no, this was dangerous. He didn't realise his strength.

"Darren!" I called but he didn't hear me.

Then of course, the inevitable happened. One of the boys pulled a dirty trick (even I had to cringe!) and Darren lost it. He went charging towards the boy and I winced as I heard sickening cracks.

"Darren!" I shouted, my eyes widening.

I raced towards him as the boys were staring at him, horrified. I grabbed him, lifting him over my shoulder and legged it.

"Put me down!" he shouted as we reached the church.

I dumped him on his ass and looked at him, arms folded.

"You...smeghead," I sighed "Why did you do that?"

"He..." he trailed off, embarassed.

"Yes, I saw. But Darren. Loads of people piss me off and I don't break their legs! I may threaten to," I gave a light smile, thinking of Evra "But I don't."

"I know...This means I can't have human friends, doesn't it?" he sighed.

"Look, I'm not getting involved. Mr C blooded you so your questions go to him," I shrugged "However, we need to leave."

He nodded and we entered.

"Rise and shine. We need to leave," I said, shaking Mr Crepsley.

"No red?" he sighed, looking at my outfit.

"No red. Sorry," I shrugged "Maybe next time?"

"This is no time to discuss fashion!" Darren suddenly snapped.

"Jeeesus, are you on the rag or something?" I raised my eyebrows.

He went bright pink and quickly shut up. We quickly left, the sun turned Mr C's skin a light shade of pink, the affect was only light because the sun was setting.

"Can we go to the Cirque Du Freak? I miss Evvie-kins!" I asked.

"Evvie...kins?" Mr Crepsley raised his eyebrows.

"Never mind that," I smiled "So can we?"

"...Yes. I can not deny that I have missed it. It may do Darren good too," he replied.

I glanced up at Darren who'd zoned out.

I nodded "He'd probably get along with Evra."

Thoughts of Cirque Du Freak reminded me of what Mr Crepsley had vowed to tell me when we got there. Why couldn't he have just told me then and there? May friends...what could that've meant? We're friends in May? I snorted what was next? April friends? The rest of the journey passed quietly, Darren was staring into space, Mr Crepsley was running and I had basically started my own conspiracy theory on "May Friends". I was distracted from my thoughts when I spotted the red tents and caravans in the distance. Mr Crepsley stopped, put me down and Darren climbed off his back. We began to walk towards the camp site. Darren looked slightly nervous.

"Scared?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

He nodded shakily.

"Don't worry, if it doesn't work out we'll feed ya to the wolf man," I shrugged and he gave me a wide eyed look.

I heard Mr Crepsley let out an almost inaudible chuckle.

"Jeez! Joking!" I rolled my eyes "Kids these days. Jesus I sound like a grandma."

When we arrived at the Cirque, I slinked off to my tent whilst Mr Crepsley and Darren went to Mr Tall's van. I tipped my trilby over my face and entered the tent.

"Good morning starshine, the Earth says HELLO!" I shouted, walking in.

"Gahh. What the hell?!" Evra groaned, rolling out of his hammock.

"Aww, don't tell me you've forgotten me already!" I sighed, shaking my head sadly.

"Monica?" he asked, grinning.

"The one and only," I said mockingly, taking off my hat and bowing.

In minutes I was tackled by a flying snake boy.

"You were away for aaaaaaaages! I got so bored!" he said, hugging me.

"Aww! Glad to know I'm awesome!" I grinned, hugging back.

A/N: Kind of a filler. I wanted to give her a new outfit and get this chapter over with so I could get to the next one. Then eventually the second book. Sorry if it seems rushed, I wanted to get this posted tonight. Oh, yes, and I'm ill. Go on, pity me ;) haha. Only kidding. Sorry if I didn't reply to a review, my head's been all over the place lately.


	19. Chapter 24

A/N: Sorry for the wait, I've been taking a break for a while.

Truska was happy to see me and ushered me to her van as soon as I asked for a hairbrush. She shoved me down on a seat and dragged the brush through my hair. It was when she pulled out scissors I began to panic. She laughed at my look of fear and barked something. I went to get up but she pushed me down and began cutting away portions of my long hair. I was thankful in a way, my long hair had often gotten in my way. When she was done my hair went just below my shoulders in messy layers.

"Truska, honestly. You rock," I grinned, hugging her.

She let out a laugh and handed me a black hairbrush. I took it with a smile and left.

"Don't tell me you're gonna get all girly now," Evra groaned when he saw me putting the hairbrush into a bag "But if you're trying to impress Mr C, you should've got something red."

"Evra, I'll still happily swap these shoes for snake skin boots," I reminded him, sitting in my hammock.

He laughed and I closed my eyes.

"Mr Crepsley was talking about you earlier with Mr Tall you know," I heard Evra whisper right in my ear, shocking me and causing me to fall out of my hammock.

"What?!" I gasped, kneeling next to him "What did he say?"

I could tell he bit back some sort of comment and he continued.

"I didn't hear much because-" he started but Darren walked in.

"Out," I said straight away.

"What?!" he frowned.

"Out for five minutes, now," I said, looking at him.

He sighed and left the tent. After making sure he wasn't eaves dropping Evra continued.

"I didn't hear much because the whole crew was around so if I stopped outside the van and listened they'd tell somebody, but I heard Mr Tall saying 'Larten, Monica is a nice girl but do you really want to ask her that?'" he explained and I laughed at his impression of Mr Tall's voice.

"Then Mr C said 'Yes, but I am not sure on how she will react," he finished.

"I wonder what he wants to ask me," I frowned.

"Oh Jesus, it's obvious, Monny!" Evra rolled his eyes.

"Don't say it," I rolled my eyes.

"It's obvious you adore eachother so stop being stupid and tell him," Evra sighed.

"He doesn't," I rolled my eyes.

"Sure, and I'm a girl."

"Well dude, maybe you should put a shirt on then," I laughed.

He laughed and for a small amount of time there was silence.

"You know...I could just get him to read your diary," he grinned.

"He's illiterate."

"I could read it to him," he grinned.

"I'd tell him you're lying," I smirked.

"I'll show him the amount of times his name is mentioned in your diary," he laughed.

I didn't notice that throughout that time he'd been edging towards my bag. He reached in, grabbed my diary and ran out of the tent. My eyes narrowed and I scrambled to get out of my hammock but got tangled. I hissed in frustration and managed to untangle myself without destroying the hammock before running out after Evra.

"Oi! Darren! You see Evra run by here?!" I asked frantically.

"Uh...Yeah, he ran towards the bonfire. Why?" he frowned.

"'Cause I'm gonna kill him!" I growled and ran.

He wouldn't tell him? Would he? He wouldn't mean in maliciously, he'd be doing it to try and help me...The stupid smeghead! I caught sight of Evra. Talking to Mr Crepsley, he had the diary behind his back. Mr Crepsley had one eyebrow raised and Evra was smiling. Crap. I ran up. I didn't notice that Evra stuck I foot out. I did, however notice when I fell towards Mr Crepsley. I noticed when he grabbed me to stop me falling. I noticed when my lips fell onto his. I don't know how long the "kiss" lasted. It was a blur. My had automatically shut but I snapped them open in shock, realising what was happening. I pulled back, wide eyed. I didn't take time to look at Mr Crepsley, I was humiliated. I simply turned around and ran as fast as I could towards my tent.

I couldn't believe it. I wasn't angry at Evra, I could never actually hate Evra. I was pissed, yeah, but not angry. I sat on my hammock, pulled my hat over my face and screamed quietly (if that was possible) into it with frustration. That did not just happen. No, it didn't! It felt like I was watching myself freak out. Sure, I was acting angry, I was acting embarassed but I didn't really feel it.

I sighed, threw my hat infront of me and glanced around. Darren wasn't in the tent, Evra was probably on his way, or even lurking outside wondering what to say. I moved a little so I was lying in my hammock and sighed, running a hand through my hair. The reality was slowly beginning to hit me. I heard movement outside the tent and my mind began to race. Was it Darren? Was it Evra?...Was is Mr Crepsley? I did the best thing I could think of in that situation and I closed my eyes. I heard whoever it was walk into the tent and approach me.

"...Monica?" came the voice of Evra.

I didn't open my eyes but my eyelids twitched.

"Are you angry?"

"No, I'm pissed. Extremely embarassed too," I said quietly.

"Im sorry! I just pictured that happenning...differently," he sighed "Do you hate me?"

I opened my eyes and glanced at him. It was hard to choke back tears. I'd made an utter fool out of myself infront of my biggest crush.

"No, dude. You're like my best friend. I'm pissed at you though."

"Like I said, I didn't think it'd happen like that," he replied.

I sat up and proceeded to sit on the floor, cross legged and Evra sat next to me. Darren peeked his head in.

"Uhh...Can I come in?" he asked unsurely.

"Sure, join the party," I responded.

He walked in and sat so we were in a somewhat triangle.

"What's going on?" he frowned after five minutes of silence.

"Nothing...Did he say anything, Evra?" I asked.

"I dunno, I kinda avoided coming here for a little while because you're scary when you're angry," he replied sheepishly.

I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"Well I'm gonna turn in, see ya...whenever," I muttered, standing and walking towards my hammock.

I laid down and pulled my cloak around me. I would normally be pacing around, calling people smeghead and all sorts but I suppose I was in a state of shock. I heard Evra sigh and then he and Darren began to talk quietly. I eventually fell into a light sleep. The next time I opened my eyes it was afternoon. I yawned and sat up. I was alone. I stretched and sighed, I needed to do some work.

A/N: I know, finally some romance! Kind of...But hey, she kissed him...kind of. Whatever, something happened which is more than I can say for some of my previous chapters :)


	20. Chapter 25

A/N: Sorry for the wait, I had tests. It would've been posted last Sunday but my laptop broke, again. It was broke when I started this funnily enough. I had to re-write this. I lost interest in this for a while, sorry, I was considering hiatus but I got a bunch of ideas last night...But luckily I got today off because I need to go for an eye test later :) Hopefully I've not lost too many readers due to inactive-ness. RIP Michael Jackson.

I had successfully managed to avoid Mr Crepsley for three days. Mostly it consisted of running like hell whenever I saw him but that was beside the point. I was standing outside the tent waiting for Darren to finish getting ready. I sighed and tapped my foot against the grass. I "knocked" on the tent flap again.

"Who is it?" he called out.

"Your mother...who the hell do you think?!" I rolled my eyes "You ready yet?!"

"No! Go take a walk or something," came the irritated reply.

Oh yeah, and run into Mr Crepsley? I think not.

"How long does it take to pull some bloody trousers on?!" I replied.

I heard him sigh and the tent opened, he was dressed.

"Finally, I think I'm 20 now," I said sarcastically, walking in.

"...What age are you?" he asked.

"17 or 18, don't really know," I replied, sitting cross-legged on the floor.

"How can you not know?!" he raised his eyebrows.

"Well I haven't got a bloody calendar, have I? Vampires stop caring about ages, you know that," I replied.

"Obviously, if they did you and Mr Crepsley would be pretty twisted," he replied with a smirk.

"Darren. Don't be a smeghead," I said warningly, I wasn't in the mood.

He seemed to think for a while, almost schemingly. He then spoke again.

"I mean...what ages is he? Probably old enough to be your grandfather...and you fancy him!" he laughed as I stood up, glaring.

"Just because you're another assisstant, it doesn't mean I won't kick your ass," I growled.

"Maybe even great grandfather..." he smirked.

That was it. I began to chase him through the camp. What the hell had gotten into him? How dare he! He knew by then that I had a short temper and if he annoyed me too much I'd slap him. He was up to something. I stopped for a second, watching to see where he was running to. Couldn't be Evra, he was near the big tent, getting ready to perform. Couldn't be Truska, she shooed everybody away 10 minutes ago as she had to get her dress ready. Couldn't be Mr Crepsley because...because...damn.

I stopped and when Darren realised I wasn't following him he turned around.

"Nice try, smeghead," I rolled my eyes, taking a step backwards "I know what you're trying to do and it won't work."

He raised his eyebrows.

"You can't get me to talk to him!" I snorted.

"Hello Mr Crepsley," Darren said, smiling at an imaginary person behind me.

"Pfft, like that'll work!" I rolled my eyes.

"Hello Darren," I heard an amused voice say right behind me.

Crap. I froze and contemplated whether I should spin around and act normal or just plain leg it.

"Monica?" asked Mr Crepsley.

I sighed, looks like he had chosen for me. I slowly turned around.

"...Yes?" I asked, meekly.

"I wish to speak to you after the show," he said and with that walked off.

"Darren?" I asked the boy behind me.

"...Yeah?"

"Run."

I heard his footsteps take off but I didn't follow him, I needed to find Evra. I made my way towards the big tent, we had 15 minutes before the people would start to arrive so he'd probably be round back somewhere. I walked through the tent and found Evra pulling on his robe thing. It looked kinda like he was going to do karate.

"Darren is like an annoying mini version of you," I announced and he looked up.

"Hello to you too," he laughed "So I'm not annoying?"

"You're my best friend so I overlook your annoying-ness," I shrugged "I just hate kids therefore, Darren bugs me."

"He's alright."

"'Cause you have more patience than me," I shrugged.

"So is this conversation going anywhere?" he muttered, lifting the snake onto his knee.

"Mr Crepsley wants to talk to me after the show. Which I blame Darren for," I shrugged.

"Just random blamage or did he do something?"

"Heh...blamage. Nah, this is what happened," I said and quickly explained what had happened.

"Well you'd have to face him some time or another," he replied once I'd finished.

"Yeah but I'd rather do so willingly," I countered.

"In that case you'd end up never talking to him again," he snorted.

"...So?" I huffed.

He laughed and I sat down on a small stool as more performers filled the tent. Once everybody was in, Mr Tall let the people in. I heard the chatter of them and sighed, hoping the show would go by as slowly as possible.

"Evra?" I muttered glancing to where Mr Crepsley was chatting with Alexander Ribs.

"Hmm?"

"What do you think the odds are that I can leg it out of here at the end of the show?"

"Low. He knows what you're like so he'll keep a close eye on you throughout the show," he snorted.

"I feel like a smegging prisoner," I growled.

He laughed and nodded to Darren who had cautiously approached.

"Am I safe?" he asked.

"Barely," I growled.

He shuffled behind Evra and said no more. I shot him a quick glare and started fiddling with my hat. Okay, maybe I was being a bit harsh on him but I was in a bad mood. He was a meddling little smeghead when he wanted to be. Each perfomer went on in turn and soon it was Evra's turn. Last performance of the night. Evra may have been an idiot, but he was smart. Sure enough, Mr Crepsley kept a close watch on me throughout the final performance. I tried edging towards the entrance but it was a no go because everystep I took towards the door, so did Mr Crepsley. I sighed and crossed my arms, giving up. Evra came back and smirked.

"I take it you've given up?" he asked.

"I never give up. I just need him to think I have," I whispered and sat back, looking defeated.

I saw Mr Crepsley give a small smirk out of the corner of my eye and he continued to talk to Mr Tall. Five...Four...Three...Two...One. Time to go. Without another word to Evra or Darren I got up and bolted, running as fast as I could. Sure, I was being childish but I didn't want to talk to him. I soon found a large tree and climbed up it, trying to disguise myself amongst the leaves. I kept as still as possible, straining my ears to hear anybody. When I didn't I let out a smile and relaxed.

"Nice try, Monica," I heard a voice say below.

Crap. I sighed and jumped out of the tree, truly defeated that time. He chuckled and raised his eyebrows.

"Avoiding me, are we?"

"Me? I'd never dream of...yeah," I admitted with a sigh.

"Come, we must talk," he said and began to walk.

I sighed nervously and walked next to him.

A/N: Cliff hanger. Sort of. This is my first romance fic which has gotten this far so bare with me. Hoepfully I'll be able to update faster though. Oh! But guess what! 93% on my history test :) 80% in RE (everybody else was getting like 6% 'cause they don't listen, my friend got 90% though) I went up a full level in English this year. But I did rubbish in maths. Like, lowest in the class I think. I didn't get 100% on any topics best I got was 80% on algebra. I only got 43% on stuff like space and measure. Probably because I spent most of math class having rubber fights with my friend.

Aaanyways. Sorry so much for the wait, like I think I mentioned it would've been done like two sundays ago but my laptop broke. I'm getting it back on Tuesday. But I'm partying about my semi-good test scores heh. This story probably helped my English like hell though. Enough ranting from me. If any of you sent me messages I haven't read them yet because I haven't checked email due to lack of MSN. Oh, special thanks to SilverVenom though for offering to help me and stuff :)


	21. Chapter 26

A/N: Sorry for the huge wait, I've been busy as hell. I'm terrible with romance stories so sorry if it's cheesy or crap. Sorry for being such a terrible updater . Gaaah I felt so awkward writing this! Sorry if he's out of character, which he is :/

Did anybody watch The Lost Boys? It was on TV recently, first time I've seen it.

Instead of his usual brisk pace, Mr Crepsley walked slowly.

"There are still some things which you have not been told about vampirism. Tell me, what is the difference between how humans consider themselves and how vampires consider themselves?"

I raised an eyebrow, was this a lesson?

"Uh...vampires think they're more like animals I guess. Humans tend to think they're better than animals even though they are animals. So...humans are in severe denial?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

Maybe not the best time for my sense of humour to kick in. Luckily, he didn't think so, he let out a small laugh and continued talking.

"This has to do with what you like to refer to as "may-friends"," he coughed.

"Oh..." I muttered.

He coughed again and continued.

"I am not going about this properly..." he sighed "Do you remember a few nights ago?

I blushed and nodded.

"Obviously, you have been avoiding me because of it," he chuckled.

"Sorry..." I mumbled.

Since when the hell did I mumble? We continued walking and I avoided eye contact by staring at my feet as I walked.

"That night, Evra was holding something behind his back, care to tell me what it was?" he asked.

Why was he skirting around the subject?

"...My diary," I replied.

"And why would he want to show me that?"

I began to get frustrated. He was the one who wanted to tell me something so why didn't he get on with it?!

"'Cause he's a smeghead, that's why. What did you want to tell me?" I replied, annoyed.

He laughed. Why was he being so cheery? Was he high or something? He then adopted a more serious expression and began talking.

"When we first met, we were not...the best of friends," he started and I snorted "But through the two years, we have gotten to know eachother and become good friends."

I nodded in agreement, remembering when he had first turned me.

"But recently...I have been beginning to suspect that my feelings towards you are more than what a friend would feel. So I was going to tell you weeks ago but I, as you say it, "chickened out"," he gave a small chuckle at that "Monica...do you wish to become my mate?"

By then I had assumed that mate meant boyfriend-girlfriend for vampires (I wasn't THAT dim). Thoughts raced through my head.

"...I suppose so," I grinned cheekily.

My second kiss was way better than my first kiss. Mostly because it wasn't, well, accidental. It wasn't making out though, if it was I probably would've fainted!

"This doesn't seem real," I laughed, leaning against a tree, feeling giddy.

He smirked "I do tend to have that affect on women."

"Oh come off it!" I snorted with a smile and sat on the grass.

He gave a small laugh and sat next to me.

"What did you mean by that?" he asked, curiously.

"By what?" I murmered, looking at him.

"This doesn't seem real," he echoed my earlier words.

"It just doesnt...It kinda feels like a good dream. I mean, I haven't had a proper boyfriend unless you count when I was like...6," I shrugged with a laugh, leaning my head against his arm.

"The way humans judge people and the way vampires judge people are quite different," he agreed.

"S'pose. Vampires tend to look at personalities more. That and fighting skills," I replied "Then again, so do people at the Cirque. Not fighting abilities though. So maybe the people I knew were assholes."

"Language," he reminded me softly, causing me to roll my eyes.

"The sun'll be up soon..." I yawned, in the distance the sky was turning a light pink.

Mr Crepsley nodded and stood, helping me up.

"You will be sleeping all day...Do you wish to share my van as Evra would wake you up?" he asked.

"Excuses, excuses," I replied with a smile "But sure, why not?"

I followed him to the small, white van and went inside. He had a two-seater couch inside which I would sleep on since I didn't exactly fancy squishing into the coffin, especially since we had only been together for about half an hour! I pulled my boots off and sat on the couch, taking my cloak off so I could pull it over myself.

"If you need anything simply wake me," he said, giving me a soft kiss which still made me giddy.

"Thanks, Mr C," I smiled.

"Call me Larten," he replied.

"Thanks Larten," I smiled, lying down and closing my eyes.

The last thing I heard was the thud as the coffin lid shut. When I opened my eyes again it was around 2pm, judging by a small analog clock stuck to the wall. I didn't really picture Larten as the sort of man who'd have a clock so I guessed it had come with the van. I sat up and stretched. Heh...Larten, I'd have to get used to calling him that. I stood, feeling the cold floor under my bare feet. I shivered and pulled my socks and boots on before putting on my cloak and leaving the van. The sunlight made me squint at first, the red curtains had been closed in the van for obvious reasons! I walked towards the centre of the camp which was were everybody usually was. Immediately I was ambushed by Evra.

I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck as he reeled off many questions about last night.

"One at a time, Evvie-kins," I laughed as he looked at me expentantly.

"Where were you last night?" he asked.

"Japan."

"Seriously!" he sighed, but gave a smile all the same.

"Larten's van," I shrugged.

"Larten?! Did what I think happened actually happen?" he asked.

"What do you think happened?"

"You and Mr Crepsley...together?"

I grinned "Maybe."

"And then you spent the night, or day, in his van?"

"Yup."

"Well you move fast!" he snorted.

"What? Oh God no! Get you're mind out of the gutter, Mr Von-Snake-Dude," I rolled my eyes.

"Dude, I have to thank you though," I sighed "For putting up with me 'cause you were right."

"Aww, you're getting all sentimental now," he cooed, resulting in me whacking him over the back of the head.

"Okay, maybe not."

A/N: I hate this chapter. Out of all of the chapters I'm least fond of this one. I just suck at getting my characters together. I made them horribly out of character because I haven't written this in ages. I'll try and make the next one better anyhow. I'll try and write loads tomorrow (Monday). Uh, nothing for Tuesday or Wednesday, sorry. I'll hopefully re-write the first couple of chapters soon too. Once again, sorry. Oh, thanks to SilverVenom and Symphony_of_Terror for offering help and stuff :).


	22. Chapter 27

**A/N: Sorry for being so whiny in my last chapter, I just don't like it. I'm glad you guys do though :) **

**Did anybody else hear the awesome news? Mr C is getting his own book series! It's gonna be epic. I can't wait.**

**Dudes, I'm gonna meet Darren Shan!! I'm so freaking excited! He's touring the UK in October so I'm gonna meet him when he comes to my city (which involves skiving school but I don't care!). Oh hell. I dunno what I'll say, hopefully I won't stand like an idiot. So that motivated me to write some more. I'm still struggling to write romantic crap but I'm trying. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own any Darren Shan characters or the Cirque Du Freak in general. **

Evra had done most of the chores in the morning with Darren so there wasn't much work left for me to do. Speaking of Darren, he was horrified when he found out about Larten and I.

"But...during trips or something...I'd have to sit there while you're both all lovey dovey!" he whined.

"Oh eff off," I snorted, throwing a rat into the sack.

I didn't understand why the little people couldn't eat the food the rest of us ate. It'd be much easier. I shrugged, no use complaining and shoved another rat into the bag.

"Wait until you get a girlfriend, I'll give you _hell_ about it," I laughed.

"You're not that cruel!" he scoffed.

"Oh yes I am! Lighten up, Darren," I chuckled.

"What do you mean lighten up?!" he question as he jumped for a rabbit.

I heard a crack and winced.

"And I'm the cruel one," I sighed.

"Guys! C'mere!" I heard Evra hiss, nearby.

He was leaning against one of the vans. When we got to him he nodded towards on of the nearby bushes. I stared before realizing what he was pointing to. A fair haired boy was hiding in the bushes, watching the camp.

"Looks like we got ourselves an admirer," I snorted "What do we do?"

"We scare him off," grinned Evra.

I nodded with a laugh.

"Well, guys. I'm gonna go now," Evra said loudly.

"Hmm, me too. See ya," I said, walking the opposite way Evra had.

I snuck quietly into the bushes and minutes later Darren was there too. We spread out so we were in a sort of semi-circle around him, about 10 meters away so he wouldn't notice any of us. Evra made an OK sign and the fun commenced.

"Oooooh. Woaaaahhhhh," I heard Darren start to groan, sounding slightly like a zombie.

The boy stiffened and turned slightly, he looked frightened.

"W-Who's there?" he asked.

"Warrrrggghhh," I heard Evra join in.

The kid spun around to where Evra would be, still not able to see us though. My turn. I began making yowling noises that a cat would make. He spun to where I would be.

"Who's there?!" he shouted.

Darren began to make gorilla noises and it took all my strength not to burst out laughing. Evra began screeching this time and I had to cover my mouth so I wouldn't laugh.

"I'm not afraid!" he said defiantly "You're just somebody playing a nasty trick!"

Evra began to shake a tree, Darren threw a stone and I snapped a twig. Soon the kid was spinning in all directions, making me wonder if he had begun to get dizzy. He began to speak again but the last straw was when Evra snuck behind him and licked his neck. He took off running for his life. The three of us darted after him. He didn't pay attention as he tore through bushes and nettles scraped at him. The three of us began to slow down, getting bored of the game. But then he tripped and went flying into some tall grass.

"Great. If he's dead I'm not burying the body," I groaned, walking forward slightly.

"Don't joke about that!" Darren reprimanded and I put up my hands in mock surrender.

"I can't see him," Evra muttered as we tried to spot him in the grass.

"You think he's OK?" I muttered.

"Dunno...He might've fallen and hurt himself..." he said, worriedly.

"Oi, kid!" I shouted, no reply came.

Darren tried getting him to shout or something but then there was a rushing noise behind us and we were sent sprawling into the grass. I sat up, wide eyed. What the hell happened?!

"Haha! Fooled you! Fooled you!" came a laughing voice behind us.

We turned around and there stood the kid in fits of laughter. Maybe it was just my pride but I didn't find it as funny as Darren or Evra but I did manage to give a small smile.

"You look like a walking plant," Darren snickered to Evra.

"Well you look like the green giant!" Evra retorted.

"You both look freakin' stupid," I rolled my eyes.

"You look like you dyed your hair green!" Darren snorted.

I grabbed a handful of my hair and sure enough, it was covered in grass. I rolled my eyes, shaking my head to get it out.

"You all look stupid!" the boy put in, grinning.

I looked at him with a raised eyebrow and his smile faded slightly as he muttered a defensive comment. Darren talked to him for a while while I concentrated on getting all the crap off of me. Once I managed it the kid talked again.

"I'm Sam Grest. Pleased to meet you," he smiled at us.

This couldn't be the Sam Grest I knew. He was young, around Darren's age.

"You named after somebody?" I asked, earning a questioning look.

"Yes, my uncle. He's not that much older than me. My parent's say I'm just like him!" he grinned and I sighed, I hoped not.

Darren and Sam got along really well and I was glad in a sense because I sometimes felt sorry for him since Evra and I were older. Just like his uncle, I found Sam pretty irritating. He wasn't really annoying...just kind of a smartass. He asked a ton of questions about the cirque and the performers, which we answered. He loved the cirque.

"It must be amazing!" he said "You're the luckiest kids in the world!"

I was about to defend myself to say I was 17 but I remembered I only looked 15 and shut my mouth. I tuned out when he kept on going on about how lucky we were, knowing it would annoy me because I thought the same thing when I first wanted to join. I did, however, hear when he asked us to put in a good word for him.

"I don't think so, Sam," Evra said softly, explaining it to him which sent him into a rant.

I sighed and glanced at the sky, the sun would be going down soon. Darren smirked when he saw me staring at the sky and I rolled my eyes at him. We distracted Sam from the idea of joining the cirque, thankfully. Later we finally, erm...convinced him to leave and we made our way back to the tent. On the way we saw what looked like a miniature army of little people, causing me and Darren to look confused but Evra looked frightened. A small man (well, he was big in comparison to the little people)was walking with them and he gave a smile to us as he passed. I raised an eyebrow but said nothing and Darren smiled back whilst Evra just stared.

Evra was silent throughout dinner, he looked really shaken. After washing up we went back to the tent and Evra was still acting weird.

Eventually he told the horrific (but funny in a really twisted way) story of Bradley Stretch. Of course, we weren't laughing when Hans showed up and said Mr Tiny wanted to see us all. Evra was shaking tremendously, Darren seemed confused, like me.

Larten and Mr Tall were also there and it worried me to see them look, well, worried. We rejected the offer to sit and Mr Tiny began to speak.

"Well, Monica Mastrelli," Mr Tiny said, making me tense "I have heard alot about you. Not as much as I've heard about Darren, but alot."

"Larten's mate, yes?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

My eyes flickered to Larten and I gave a small nod. Darren looked on-edge knowing Mr Tiny would address him soon.

"Hmm, you don't appear to be much," he said, seemingly unimpressed and then smirked at Larten "So young, Larten?"

I clenched my teeth to keep myself from making a sarcastic remark.

"Monica is mature for her age," he replied coldly.

"But you did run away from home...seems rather selfish. Though, you laid your life on the line to save Mr Von here..." Mr Tiny ignored the reply and smiled and it made my blood boil, but a warning look from Larten made me hold my tongue and thankfully he began talking to Darren.

I managed to calm myself down and I felt sorry for Darren, Mr Tiny was worse with him. We agreed to help the little people (Jesus, more of them! How many bunnies did they want me to kill?!) I was shocked when Darren was stupid enough to piss off Mr Tiny, I almost grabbed him and dragged him out of the van. He was clever enough to shut up when Mr Tiny threatened to turn him into a cat. Before we left, Larten spoke.

"Darren, go to bed now and get a good night's sleep, there will be no lessons tonight," he said "Monica, you too, but you may sleep in my van if you wish."

We both nodded and after Mr Tiny implied that the little people could eat us we left the van. Evra and Darren ran to the tent whilst I bolted to the van. I was almost asleep when I heard the door open and close, although it was quiet, I was a light sleeper. I opened my eyes sleepily and saw, as expected, Larten.

"That guy...freaks me out," I murmered quietly.

"He is not one to be trusted," he grumbled and then added "He was talking rubbish when he called you selfish too."

"It was true in a way," I sighed.

"You were not selfish, you were young," he replied simply.

"S'pose so...I met this kid today, Sam Grest..." I muttered, remembering how he'd wanted to join "He thinks me, Darren and Evra are the luckiest kids in the world...he wants to join."

"He reminds you of yourself?" he asked with a small smile.

I was still tired but I tried to keep myself awake to talk to him.

"...Don't think I was as much of a smart ass...but yeah. Just how he's so eager to join," I murmered.

"Are you still missing your family?" he asked curiously.

"Not as much as I was...Been about two years. Hate to admit it but sometimes I can't remember things about them already. Even then, I lost one family and gained another," I yawned.

He gave a smile.

"Sleep. You are exhausted," he commanded.

"But-"

"Sleep. It is not as if I will not be here when you wake," he chuckled and gave me a feather light kiss, sending a tingle down my spine.

I sighed, nodded and curled up under my cloak and soon fell asleep. I did managed to wake up about three hours later and I spent the remainder of the night talking and I dunno, "snuggling" with Larten. He went to bed at about half seven in the morning and I fell asleep on the couch again, making up for the hours I'd spent awake.

I woke up at around 12-ish. I felt bad, knowing Darren and Evra had probably completed most of the chores. Larten wasn't lying when he said having Darren around would lessen my work load. I left the van and the sunlight still made me squint so I pulled my hat over my eyes slightly to shade them. I found Darren, Evra and Sam sitting but they didn't notice me right away.

"Where's Monica?" asked Sam.

"With Mr Crepsley," Darren snorted.

"Who's that?"

"Hey _boyfriend_," Darren replied in a girly voice, annoying me.

"Anything else you wanna tell Sam about my life?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey, he asked!" Darren shrugged, turning to face me.

"My business," I shrugged back, sitting next to Evra.

Sam changed the topic by talking about Evra's feet. Atleast he didn't start talking about the weather!

"How come you wear the same suit all the time?" Sam asked Darren.

"I like it," Darren shrugged.

"And you?" he asked me.

"It's this or a bin bag," I said sarcastically, so he didn't bother trying to talk to me much after that.

The day did get interesting when we met a...delightful? Hippie. His talk of herbs did make me laugh and when Evra looked at me with a confused expression as to why I looked to amused I mimed smoking a joint behind R.V's back, making him laugh too. I tuned out for most of R.V's ranting because, well, it bored me. I passed most of my time in the same fashion, spending the days with Evra, Darren and Sam, taking a short nap and then spending a majority of the night with Larten.

"How is Darren?" he asked one night as I entered the van.

"Gettin' weaker. Still being a..uh..vegetarian," I shrugged, sitting.

He snorted at the phrase I used for Darren.

"Have you been trying to get him to feed?"

"With my patience? Pfft, I end up gettin' annoyed at him and saying some very "un-lady-like" things," I snorted.

I rested my head on his shoulder and sighed.

"Can I ask you somethin'?"

"Of course."

"Why did you want **me** to be your mate? I mean, compared to you I'm just an ignorant kid..."

"Ah, I see what Desmond said did affect you after all," he sighed.

"Just made me think about it more..."

"Monica, you may be young, but there is something, I do not know what, a certain charm perhaps, which draws me to you. Plus, you may not exactly be like a...uh...super model? But you are very pretty to me," he grinned causing me to smile and blush.

"...You shallow git," I joked and soon his lips were on mine again.

Anything Larten and I did never went beyond kissing then. Okay, it may not exactly have been innocent kissing, but it didn't go beyond that. I was introduced to Cormac Limbs the next afternoon when I woke up, I thought he was absolutely epic! I was even more excited when Mr Tall announced there would be a show, finally some real work!

"Hey Evvie-kins, hand me that hammer, would you?" I asked, pointing to the hammer next to him as we were putting pegs in the ground.

He didn't even bother with a "don't call me that" this time, I think he was too excited.

"Can I trust you with this?" he joked, holding the hammer.

"Hmm...Nope," I grinned, taking it and hammering the peg into the ground to hold the tent down.

We had to send Sam packing but Darren gave him tickets for both him and R.V. It was weird knowing there would be people you knew in the audience, sort of like an epic, twisted school play.

"I think you should wheel Madam Octa on stage, then atleast you'll get stage time!" Darren grinned and proceeded to make a series of jokes about putting me in sequins and calling me the glamorous assistant.

His jokes ended when it turned out he'd be the "glamorous assistant". He was excited though, he was lucky he wouldn't have a migraine by the end of the night like I had numerous times. The show passed without much event, well, until I discovered just why Larten asked Darren to go on stage with him. Darren stormed off and I went to speed after him, before I did Larten grabbed my arm and muttered a "Don't scare him too much". I gave a small nod and bolted after Darren, finding him in the tent.

He looked up and glared.

"Don't give me that look. I came here to half warn you, half inform you how lucky you were that your small amount of brain cells kicked in," I growled.

He looked shocked at what I had said, normally I would've felt guilty but he pissed me off too much. I mean, after all we'd done for him!

"Darren, I may get along with you, hell, I may like you a bit, but Larten is my mate. You kill him, I kill you. That's what would've happened if you killed him tonight," I warned, sitting down.

I slept in the tent that night, after all, my hammock was still there and I missed it. I stayed angry at Darren for a while, when he went to the train tracks with Sam, I stayed with Evra to help with the snake, not that there was much I was able to do though.

**A/N: Random place to end, yes. I'm trying to add more Mr C into it (It felt weird writing Larten, haha) but like I've said, I'm trying. Uh, I'm re-reading The Vampire's assistant and stuff so I can figure out where I want Monica at the end, she's probably be with Mr C backstage at the time when all the drama happens. I've got stuff figured out for what I want to happen later, but not for this bit which is why I'm trying to get passed it. Sorry if Darren's OOC, I've been trying to make him sort of like an annoying brother to Monica. But like I've said, I've got the "plot" for during the next book (roughly) and the three books after that (once again, roughly) I hope you enjoyed though :)**


	23. Chapter 28

A/N: The last chapter was the longest one I've posted :)

Disclaimer: I don't own and Darren Shan characters or the Cirque Du Freak (no matter how much I wish I did).

"Monny-kins?"

I snorted.

"Evvie-kins."

"What did you do to Darren?"

"Nothing worse then what I've ever said to you...wait...have I threatened your life before?"

"Well skinning me would probably kill me so yeah," he laughed.

"I used a more direct approach with him I guess."

"What exactly-" he started but then went silent.

I opened my eyes, sat up from my hammock and burst into fits of laughter. There stood Darren in a purple pirate outfit.

"What the hell?! You the next Jack Sparrow?" I laughed.

Evra looked confused but Darren just rolled his eyes.

"I like it!" he defended.

"Me too," Evra shrugged.

"Did either of you ask Truska to do this for me?" he asked "I was going to but forgot."

"I didn't," Evra shrugged and I shook my head.

"Mr Crepsley must've asked her...Or she fancies you!" Evra grinned.

We both burst into choruses of "Truska and Darren sitting in a tree!" until Darren ended up wrestling Evra. I had to help Darren with the chores since Evra couldn't because of the snake.

"Monica?"

"Yes, Sinbad?" I asked jokingly.

"Why did you become a vampire?" he asked cautiously as we were washing one of the cooking pots.

"Story for another time, dude," I said simply.

"Did you have a brother or sister?"

"To save you time asking questions, I'll show you a photo later," I sighed "Evra needs us to sleep in Larten's van tonight, my diary's in there with the photo."

"We have to sleep there tonight?" he groaned.

"Yup. Why?"

"'Cause you and Mr Crepsley'll be all lovey dovey?"

"Darren. Do I seem like the lovey dovey type? Scratch that, does LARTEN seem like the lovey dovey type?" I snorted and he shook his head.

He laughed slightly and the conversation was done with. That night Darren made a bed on the floor, next to Madam Octa's cage and I curled up on the couch. I woke up from my light sleep when the door opened and Larten walked in. He made a shushing gesture and I raised an eyebrow and nodded, not bothering to sit up though. He drew out a bottle of blood and I caught on. He was going to make Darren drink. He put the bottle to Darrens lips but almost immediately he bit into the bottle, cutting his lips and spat out the blood, making it go everywhere.

"I was trying to help!" Larten muttered angrily, earning various threats to his life.

I listened to them chat and then Darren brought up the subject of Sam joining which Larten shot down immediately, I was glad but I didn't let it show because I did feel slightly sorry for Darren.

"Why not?" he asked.

"One child is bad enough. There is no way I would take on a second," he stated simply.

"Two children," Darren corrected.

"I do not consider Monica to be a child.

"He's my friend! He'd be company for me!" Darren argued.

"And what are Evra and I? Your pet sheep?" I asked.

"You're not helping!" Darren sighed.

"I don't want to! I didn't even want YOU to be turned! What makes you think I want to have to put up with another kid? Vampire or not," I replied with a shrug.

"Very well, he can join," Larten stated.

"He can?" Darren grinned.

"HE CAN?" I snapped, opening my eyes and sitting up.

"But he has to become a half vampire too!" he hissed.

I sighed in annoyance. Another pest? I just hoped Sam wouldn't agree.

"Are you going to ask him?" I asked Darren, raising an eyebrow.

"No! I would never let Sam become a monster!" he said, causing me to glare.

"You know Darren, just when I'm starting to think you're alright, you piss me off," I sighed, lying down again and closing my eyes.

I planned to wake up a couple of hours later to spend time with Larten but I didn't because when I woke up, it was because Darren was shaking me and it was 11 in the morning.

"We need to get food for the little people, they're hungry already," he sighed.

"What's up, mopey?" I yawned, pulling my cloak on as we left the van.

"I had to scare Sam off," he mumbled glumly.

"I had to do something like that a year or so ago. Don't worry about it, it was for the best," I attempted to comfort him.

We must've been hunting for about 10 minutes before we split up so I could get some of the fast animals. I managed to kill a fox by snapping it's neck. I slung it over my shoulder and walked to where Darren was. I was shocked to find R.V there too. Darren looked shocked and R.V just looked plain shocked.

"He's a wild animal! We have to keep the wolf man locked up!" Darren said.

"There's other twisted stuff going on there! Speak of the devil," R.V said pointing towards me "She's going out with a man probably twice her age, man!"

"How the hell can you prove that?" I growled, putting the fox down.

He grinned and then I remembered. Sam knew, he must've mentioned it when Larten was on stage.

"Look. You eat whatever the hell you want, be all peace and love but let us do whatever the hell we want to do! Aren't you about freedom and crap?" I growled.

What happened next was actually quite comic in a sense, Darren threw the sheep at him.

"You're monsters!" He gasped, seeing me grin at the scenario.

"Yes. But we're only BABY monsters," Darren said cruelly "We'd think no more of killing you than killing this sheep!"

We began to leave and I muttered a "See ya, Reggie."

We both went to Mr Tall's van, turns out there was more to the story than I knew.

"He's gonna try to get Mr Crepsley and Monica in trouble to for being..uhh.." Darren explained.

"Mates," I finished his sentence, sighing.

"You handled it well. It's a pity one of the little people weren't with you, they would've killed him without a second thought," Mr Tall sighed and I winced at the picture.

I may have been morbid when I wanted to be but I didn't like gore, some horror movies would make me throw up when it was all guts. Blood didn't phase me though, it'd be funny if it did. Darren decided to skip the show that night and sleep instead. Since I refused to go on stage ever since my first few experiences, Mr Tall would step in.

I sat with Larten backstage, telling him about the R.V incident.

"What he said about us bothered you," he stated once I finished.

"Just made me think. Age doesn't really matter much to vampires, yeah? But it matters loads to humans and since I age slowly, whenever we need to go to a human place in public we'd have to act like relatives or shit, 'cause if we don't you'll get jailed or something," I sighed.

"I have a solution to that," he said simply "I figured it out a few nights ago. We must wait for years yet, but still. I recall telling you about the purge and such yes? Well during the purge, you age. The Purge will probably strike you in about 15 years or less from now. So then you would appear 18 anyway and I would still appear to be in my early 30's. When the purge strikes you will age around 3 years, so then you would appear to be 23, then when it hits again, you would be a full vampire, appearing in your mid-twenties."

I grinned, nodded and gave him a kiss which made Truska clap and grin and Larten turned a light pink. Rhamus Two-bellies was on, meaning Truska would be on and then Larten. At that moment Evra rushed in, looking worried. He went towards Mr Tall who was standing in a corner.

I heard the words "wolf man" and "escaped" which immediately caused me to panic. The rest had also heard so Mr Tall began to speak.

"Do not panic. The show is canceled," he announced, causing Rhamus to come off stage.

He told us to go off to find the wolf man. I went with Larten, obviously.

"Darren," he muttered suddenly causing my eyes to widen.

We ran to the tent and found his bed empty. It only took Larten minutes to find a trail and we began to follow it straight away. After about 10 minutes we heard another howl, louder this time. We looked ahead and there was the wolf man, his jaws ready to rip a chunk out of Darren. Quick as a flash Larten darted forward and began to fight the wolf man off. Darren opened his eyes, obviously shocked to be alive. I ran forward and made sure he was alright. He was roughed up but he was going to be OK. Larten had managed to knock out the wolf man and made his way towards us. I stood up and he and Darren began to talk and I glanced around but then my eyes caught something. Something red.

"Oh dear God," I groaned, gagging.

There was Sam, his belly ripped open. I looked away and sat down so I wouldn't throw up. I put my head in my hands and sighed. Poor kid...Eventually I brought myself to get up and sit beside Darren as he sobbed. I made sure I didn't look at Sam, but I heard Larten encourage Darren to drink. He did. It was terrible. Sam may have been a smartass, but he was a good kid and even I couldn't help but cry silently. Once Darren and sucked him dry he cried even more.

We left not long after. I spent the journey with Larten since I was no good around sad or mourning people because it made me feel awkward. We didn't say much on the journey, but it wasn't an awkward silence because we were both deep in thought. I was thinking about the recent events and I don't know what Larten was tinking about. Well, I couldn't say it'd been a boring week.

A/N: Short, I know, but I'm separating the mini storylines with chapters so I'm posting this with another chapter too.


	24. Chapter 29

A/N: I got the manga of The Vampire's Assistant the other day. I love it :)

I saw the trailer for the movie, I don't really like it.

I read back a bit and I've noticed my writing is improving slightly. Slowly, yeah, but it is.

I'm starting to realise how hard it is to make Mr C romantic without making him slightly OOC XD

Disclaimer: I don't own any Darren Shan characters or the Cirque Du Freak, no matter how much I wish I did.

It's been just under a year since what I like to call "the Grest incident". Things between Larten and I have only gotten better and better yet, Darren didn't want to kill him anymore which is always a bonus. One cold late-november night I was walking with Larten around the camp, hand-in-hand.

"Monica?" he asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"Do you know the date?" he enquired.

"Uh...November," I shrugged.

Ever since I'd joined the Cirque I was rubbish with dates, the only way I knew it when I was younger was because I'd write it in my school book or I'd have a calendar.

"It is the 25th," he smirked "Your birthday."

"Cool," I shrugged, birthdays didn't mean much to vampires because we had so many of them "Wait...how do you know when my birthday is?"

"Your grave stone," he stated simply.

"Stalker," I teased.

I was slightly excited because it meant I was 18 but it was still sort of disappointing to know it would be around 12 years before I looked anything near to 18. Before anything else could be said I saw Darren, not too far away. He was facing away from us so it was hard to see what he was concentrating on.

"MOVE!" he shouted and clicked his fingers.

"I always knew he was a funny one," I muttered with a small smile.

Larten snorted and we started walking towards him.

"What are you doing?" Larten asked, causing Darren to look up.

"Nothing," he muttered, trying to hide what looked like a cross behind his back.

"Gone Christian, Darren?" I asked, raising an eyebrow as he showed us the cross.

"I found it while I was hunting," he rolled his eyes at my comment.

I sort of tuned out whilst Larten showed Darren how the trick was done, I heard a heavy breathing getting nearer and nearer.

"Not as dull as you appear," he smirked.

"That's a feat in itself," I murmered, distractedly, but neither of them seemed to pay attention to the way I said it "Anybody else hear that?"

"But...why click your fingers?" Darren asked, ignoring my question.

"Old habits die hard," Larten shrugged but shot me a look.

"But old vampires die easy!" growled a vaguely familiar voice from behind us and we had knives put to our throats.

I grinned when a sense of deja vu hit me and I realised who it was. My suspicions were confirmed when Larten, sighed, pushed the knife away from his throat.

"Gavner, Gavner, Gavner," he sighed.

I pushed Gavner's knife away from my neck like Larten had and began to laugh at Darren's scared expression, even though it was probably how I looked when it first happened to me.

"You need to get some new material, dude," I smiled to him once he and Larten were finished speaking.

"Hi to you too, Monica," he chuckled.

Darren still looked confused and slightly scared. Once the introductions were over, the scared expression left Darren's face and he became calmer.

"Does he still complain like a grumpy old woman when he wakes up?" Gavner asked Darren.

"Only when Monica isn't around!" Darren giggled, causing me to glare at him.

"Aw! So you're a cute little couple now! It's like beauty and the beast!" Gavner teased.

"I didn't know you thought Larten was a beauty, Gavner," I retorted, raising an eyebrow "I'd hate to be standing in the way of anything."

They both made a face at that but Darren found it funny.

"Atleast he thinks I'm funny," I muttered.

"Once again, Gavner, I have been expecting you," Larten sighed like he had years ago "Shall we go to my van to discuss the matter?"

Gavner looked confused for a minute or so but then looked at Darren and groaned.

"Larten, again?! Last time it was Monica, this time it's the boy? It seems like history is repeating itself," he sighed, sparking my interest.

Why exactly WAS Gavner here?

"Larten, you were lucky last time. They agreed to let the matter settle itself because they decided Monica was at an age where she could decide for herself, this boy couldn't be over thirteen!" he said.

"I would have taken him to a council, like I was planning to do with Monica but now you are here it will not be necessary," Larten shrugged.

"It bloody well will be!" Gavner sighed.

Once they settled matters with Darren, Larten asked the very thing I wanted to know.

"So why are you here?"

"There's trouble brewing. Something personal you ought to know," he sighed.

This reminded me of his earlier sentence about history repeating itself. I gave Gavner a serious look as if to say "again?" he then glanced at Larten, as if asking if I should know, Larten gave a slight nod, causing Gavner to nod and a sense of dread filled me.

"Darren. Gavner and I shall discuss this in my van alone. Monica, watch over Darren and please tell Mr Tall that I will be unable to perform tonight. I will take a dim view of it if either of you try to eaves drop," Larten said and I gave a small nod.

Both went to his van and Darren sighed angrily.

"S'matter?" I muttered as we made our way towards Mr Tall's van.

"I'm not allowed to know!" he replied.

"Relax, I'm not either," I shrugged.

"But that's only because you have to make sure I don't eavesdrop!" he argued, causing me to shrug.

"If it was your business, you would've been told," I replied, remembering how I'd learned that the hard way "Trust me on this one, Darren."

"You know what's going on! If you didn't you wouldn't be so calm!" he accused, damn that boy knew me well.

"I know as much as you do," I lied "But I know my place."

"Mr Crepsley'll tell you later!" he accused again.

"That's entirely up to him. If he wants to tell you, he will, if he doesn't, he won't. End of," I concluded and he sighed.

"Exactly. Now c'mon, we need to tell Mr Tall."

"No. I'll do the show," Darren replied moodily and I gave a slight nod.

With that, Darren and I made our way down to the performing tent to help out. Later that night when Darren was talking to Gavner, I took the opportunity to slip away to Larten's van. When I went in he was sitting on the couch, staring into space. He was taken from his thoughts when I closed the door and sat next to him.

"Is it...a vampaneze?" I asked, warily.

"Yes. Same place too," he replied and I tensed.

"I'm coming," I stated.

"Of course. I have been thinking about Darren," he explained.

"Are you bringing him?" I asked.

"Probably."

"Will you tell him?"

He sighed at that.

"I do not know."

I rested my head on his shoulder, tiredly and he slung his arm around my shoulders and absentmindedly stroked my arm soothingly, making me even more tired. I heard the door open and I saw Darren walk in. Once the situation was semi-explained, Darren agreed to ask Evra and left the van.

"Well...that was one hell of a birthday," I murmered tiredly.

He gave a small smile and a kiss.

"I don't wanna go back," I muttered "Especially if it's another purple loon."

"Yes but I know you do not wish for him to harm your family, so we must," he replied.

I imagined a vampaneze going after my parents and winced. No, I wouldn't let that happen. I nodded in agreement to his statement. Larten didn't go to his coffin that day, we both fell asleep on the couch. Evra crept in during the day to wake me up so we could talk about the trip.

"Darren wants me to come," he explained, as we left the van.

"I know. Larten suggested it. You didn't tell him anything, did you?" I yawned slightly and pulled my cloak tighter around myself.

"No. Is it the same as last time?" he asked.

"Pretty much. You gonna come?" I asked, glancing at him "I'd understand if you don't wanna."

"I dunno...In a way it sounds like it's asking for trouble, but I feel kind of sorry for Darren," he explained and I nodded.

"I think I will...I'm just wary, you know?"

I gave a small nod and shrugged.

"It's up to you, man," I stated "You'd need to help keep Darren distracted though, we don't need a repeat."

"Monica, just tell the truth," Evra sighed dramatically, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

"You'd just miss me too much!" he grinned.

"I think I'd lose my mind without you, Evvie-kinsm" I played along, grinning.

"Aww Monica loves me!" he shrieked, tackling me to the ground in a hug, winding me.

"Taking that a bit far, dude," I said, getting my breath back but laughing all the same "Hard to believe you're shy."

He grinned and stuck his tongue out. I mimicked him but then he stretched his tongue out to lick up his nose.

"Show off," I muttered but smiled anyway.

We both stood up and made our way back to the centre of the camp. Truska, Hans and Darren were there. Truska grinned when she saws us and began barking at me.

"Uh...Evra?" I asked.

"She wants you to go to her van with her for 10 minutes," he shrugged.

I followed her warily, wondering what torture she'd force upon me, such as straighteners or make-up. It wasn't that I was a scruff. I mean, I'd brush my hair and wash all the time but I didn't like covering my face in junk, or getting burnt by straighteners. She let out a laugh when she saw my expression and shook her head. We entered the van and she tutted, gesturing to my dirty white shirt. Okay, white wasn't the best decision if I was going to be doing work outside, I'd admit it.

She brought out a black silk short-sleeved shirt with a silk white tie. I grinned and regretted doubting her as I darted behind the screen to try it on. It was a good fit. It was a bit stupid to wear a shorter sleeved top when it was getting into winter, but I'd just wear my cloak and rely on my vampire blood. I came out from behind the screen and Truska clapped, smiling. I stopped regretting having doubted her when she snatched the hat off of my head.

"Not a hair cut!" I sighed, she'd only cut it a week earlier.

She shook her head with a smile and took out a top hat with a white ribbon on it, and put that on my head instead.

"Truska, you rock," I grinned, hugging her.

She gave a modest smile and ushered me out.

"You look like you're going to a funeral," Darren teased.

"Well you look like an extra in Pirates Of The Caribbean," I shrugged, smiling.

"I'm the only one without weird clothes," he grinned.

"You can't exactly go wrong with shorts," Darren shrugged.

"Unless he got those weird Hawaiian patternes ones," I shuddered.

"That would be...weird," Darren muttered.

"Have you packed Larten's bag, or should I?" I asked him.

"I did whilst you were talking to Evra," he shrugged and I nodded.

"Haha, damn, Evra. You're gonna have to wear that mask thing again," I grinned and he sighed.

"What mask thing again?" Darren frowned.

"Uh...never mind. Look the sun is setting soon, we better make sure we have everything!" I covered, standing.

After we made sure we'd sorted everything we sat by the fire and waited. I jumped when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Jesus!" I shouted.

Evra and Darren started laughing and I turned around to see Larten smirk.

"Not funny," I muttered, but defying my words by smiling.

"I thought you had heard me," he replied, helping me up.

"You're not exactly Gavner," I snorted.

"Was that a compliment?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Not to Gavner, no."

"Well I'm sure he'll be devastated, but can we go now before you get all "awww"?" Darren sighed.

"When do we ever act like that?" I rolled my eyes.

"When you think we're not looking."

We made our way to a small train station, not too far from the Cirque.

"Why are we here?" Darren frowned.

"Hmm, a train station, I dunno," I muttered sarcastically.

We were receiving weird looks from many people. I wasn't particularly shocked. I mean, Larten in a bright red suit, Evra not showing an inch of skin, Darren in his purple genie-esque get up and me dressed like the grim reaper. I gave a small smile at the thought and wondered how I would've reacted if I saw that when I was human. I'd have probably been in awe. Or maybe scared. Probably a mixture. There was a half hour wait for our train so we occupied ourselves with a nearby WHSmiths after Larten gave us money. I ended up buying a magazine about bands. I recognised some because I used to listen to them, but others were new.

Once we left the shop we sat down on some seats near the platform, waiting for the train to arrive. I sat between Larten and Darren whilst Evra sat at the end.

"Who is she?" Larten asked, faintly disgusted, as I read a Marilyn Manson interview.

"He is Marilyn Manson," I chuckled and then muttered to myself "I didn't know he had eyebrows again."

Larten wrinkled his nose and I smiled more.

"Kids, huh?" said an unfamiliar voice.

I raised my head to see a woman who looked to be in her mid twenties, sitting next to Larten. I frowned a bit but when back to my magazine.

"So why're you here?" she asked and I bit my cheek so I didn't repeat what I had said to Darren.

I got increasingly annoyed as she tried various ways to start a conversation and Larten responded with short to-the-point answers

"So, how'd you get the scar?" she asked him and I got fed up.

"Hey lady, are you always this nosy?" I asked in annoyance and I heard either Darren or Evra give a snort of laughter, maybe both.

"I think you should learn some manners infront of adults, young lady," she glared.

"Because nosiness is so polite, yeah? Just back the fuck off," I growled and flipped a page angrily.

She said nothing but sniffed.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," I muttered, but loud enough so that she could hear.

Darren was laughing silently, Evra looked to be on the verge of histerics, and even Larten was smirking. Hey, atleast I got her to shut up.

A/N: Sorry for taking ages again, I remember I used to update almost every day o.O and that was on school days. I've just gotten...paranoid that this will end up rubbish so I keep on going back and editing etc. I've been thinking more about how I'm gonna write this because it's getting harder to write for me somehow but I've gotten some ideas for drama later on in the story. I just hope it doesn't end up like some cheesy soap opera haha. On a random note, anybody else tried the new Batman game? I love it. (Addicted)


	25. Chapter 30

A/N: I'm meeting Darren this week and to be frank, I'm terrified. I'll try to get a picture :) Oh my God, this is the longest one I've ever written. The first story of mine to read 30 chapters too without me abandoning it.

"Was that jealousy I detected in your voice, Monica?" Larten teased when we were seated on the train.

"Yeah," I admitted with a shrug "But remember last time we were on a train? You weren't exactly ecstatic."

"But I had reason to be annoyed," he started and then muttered the last part "We were not mates when that happened, something could've happened with that boy."

"Can you please stop being right all the time?" I sighed but I couldn't help but smile a bit "But then again, I only talked to him for the train ride."

The subject was dropped and the rest of the journey was fairly pleasant. But when we got to the familiar train station I couldn't help but feel slightly down. Larten couldn't really feel down when he came there, after all, it was very different when he was living there! He was more protective than sad. I was a mixture of both, I guess. Plus, all his relatives and friends would've been long gone.

The bus was even worse. In the train I mostly saw fields so it's not as though they'd be very memorable. But my old favourite shops were, so were the houses and streets and basically everything.

"Nothing's changed," I murmered.

It was as though I hadn't even left. We soon arrived at the hotel. It wasn't the one we'd stayed at last time, it was nearer the centre of the city which was better so I wouldn't have to get a bus when I wanted to leave the hotel. Larten went straight to bed once we got in the room because the sun was going to rise in half an hour. I sat in the living room, browsing through the TV guide to see if anything good was going to be on. I missed having a TV.

"Oh hell yeah! I've got something for us to watch tonight!" I grinned.

"What is it?"

"The Lost Boys. It's amazing," I replied.

"What? Peter Pan?" Darren wrinkled his nose.

"One, what's wrong with Peter Pan? Two, no. It's a vampire movie," I answered.

"But why? We're vampires, why watch some stupid movie about ourselves?" Darren groaned.

"Oh shut it. You'll probably like it," I rolled my eyes "It's on at 9 tonight and both of you are watching it with me. Okay? Good. Now, I'm going to bed."

I got out the t-shirt and pajama bottoms I'd packed in a small bag and went to the bathroom to get changed. Larten and I would be sharing a room. I loved the thought of sleeping in a bed again. The couch was only so comfortable. One thing about Larten was that he was hilariously clingy when he slept. I woke up at around 10 am with his arm seriously clamped around my stomach. I tried to move his arm but it wouldn't budge and soon I was close to fits of giggles. I didn't mind much, but I did want to get up.

"Laaarten," I whispered in a sing-song voice.

"Yes?" he muttered sleepily.

"Can you let me up?" I laughed.

I heard an embarassed cough and the arm left my waist.

"Now that was freakin' adorable," I teased as he went pink.

"I am many things, Monica. Adorable is not one of them," he replied simply.

"Hmm, but handsome is," I grinned as he went pink again.

I gave him a quick kiss before slipping out of the bed and heading into the main room. I was cooking some crumpets when Darren and Evra got up.

"You cook?" Darren snorted, amused, when he saw me.

"Who d'you think cooked before you were blooded? The tooth fairy?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Never thought about it," he shrugged simply "Did you know that Mr Crepsley used to be a vampire general?"

"Was he? Cool," I shrugged.

"I thought it was a big deal," he frowned at my reaction.

"I was never in to politics as a human, I don't intend on starting now," I replied simply, glaring at Evra as he stole my food.

"You're so lucky I believe in animal rights," I teased, sitting back down, I couldn't be bothered to make more.

"So what's the plan today?" Evra questioned.

"Well I dunno what you guys are doing but I'm going to, uh...Explore," I said pointedly.

Evra got the hint and nodded.

"We'll just stay here and watch TV then," he replied simply before Darren could say anything.

"M'kay," I nodded, mouthing a thank you when Darren wasn't looking.

Another thing I missed about being human was having a shower. We had these weird ones at the Cirque but it wasn't the same. Once I'd showered, dressed and dried my hair I left. I soon found myself infront of the house I'd grown up in. The same car was even in the drive way. I needed a way to watch the house for a while without appearing to be some creep so I climbed the tree across the street and just observed my...old house.

As much as I adored the house, I couldn't really call it my home anymore. My home was the cirque. I adored it and the people there. I knew that if I somehow did go back and live at my home I'd miss everything too much. Especially Larten. That would be hilarious to explain. I gave a small smile at the thought.

"Hey mum, dad. I'm back. But it's okay, I'm a half vampire now! Oh, and if that wasn't enough, I'm also with a guy who's about 180 years old!"

That had me grinning. The grin was wiped off my face when I saw someone open the door and immediately I was behind a branch and staring at the person. My mum. She was waving across the street. I froze at first, thinking I'd been spotted but I looked down to see a guy cross the road. He was fairly tall and young. He couldn't have been older than 23. I stared at the person some more and froze. My brother, Alex. Wasn't he supposed to be in Scotland? Christ, he lived there. Time to be Monica Holmes and do some stalking.

It was about half an hour before he left. I waited until he was about three metres away from me before climbing down the tree and following. Unfortunately he stopped after about 10 minutes, sighed and spoke.

"Okay, who're you?" he asked.

Damn, I did a Gavner. I took that opportunity to hide before he turned around. He turned, sighed, turned again and continued walking. There was really only one way he could go from the street he was at and I knew a different route which would end up meeting the street he was at. I quickly turned the corner and made my way through the different streets and I got at the bit where Alex should've been. Sure enough, he was there. Eventually he got to an apartment building and went inside.

I knew, for obvious reasons, that I couldn't follow. I made my way back to the hotel.

"What time's it?" I muttered when I got back.

"Ten past two," Evra muttered, he was watching TV with Darren.

"I think I'm gonna go for a nap, wake me up before the film starts," I muttered.

I didn't want to disturb Larten as I knew he'd be in for a tough night, so I slept on one of the single beds. I woke up at 7 without needing to be woken by somebody. It was already dark because it was winter.

"Mr Crepsley's still asleep," Darren muttered as I entered the living room.

I gave a small nod and began to cook dinner. Larten insisted that we didn't order room service since it was an assistant's job to cook for his or her mentor. In a way, I was glad that he wasn't making exceptions for me. There wasn't much in the cupboards so I ended up making soup, I gave some to Darren and Evra too. The soup was done at around 9 after a failed attempt and Larten was awake by 9:15. He rolled his eyes at my film choice when he was told it was a vampire film. He left quickly after eating.

I sighed. I really wanted to tell my brother. He was one of the ones I missed the most. But I remembered Carly and Alexis' reactions and I wasn't so sure. But then again, I'd never really liked Alexis that much, and Carly didn't even say anything, she just looked uneasy. Surely Alex wouldn't hate me. He might hate Larten for turning me. But he'd never hate me...would he?

"Not all vampires are handsome," Darren grumbled at the television as the four vampires of the movie were talking.

"You're just the exception," I teased, sticking my tongue out "But I s'pose I would be worried if you started to find Larten attractive."

He made a face as though he was going to be sick and I laughed along with Evra.

"Afraid of competition, Mon?" Evra teased.

"I don't deal well with it. Bad past experiences," I shrugged.

"Wow? Are you feeling OK? Monica actually mentioning her past!" Darren gasped in mock shock.

"Evra knows plenty about my life as a human," I stuck my tongue out and then concentrated on the film.

Once the film was done I stood and grabbed my cloak.

"Where're you going?" Darren asked.

"To feed," I muttered as I left the hotel room.

I managed to find some guy who'd passed out from drink so I quickly fed and left. Afterwards I went back to the hotel room.

"Why'd you put on your cloak to feed?" Darren raised an eyebrow.

"So if he woke up I could pull a Phantom of the Opera and disappear into the shadows. Plus, it's freakin' cold in the hallways," I said simply, shrugging.

We watched TV for a few more hours until around 12-ish and then Darren and Evra decided to turn in. I ended up flipping through channels until 2-ish and I got bored. Larten came back at around 6 in the morning and I was nearly asleep on the bed. I woke up as he came in though.

"Any luck?" I asked tiredly and he shook his head, causing me to sigh.

"You wished to speak to me," he stated simply, getting into the bed.

"I'm not even gonna ask how you knew that," I stated raising an eyebrow "As you probably thought I would, I went to see my old house. I saw my brother."

"He's supposed to be living in Scotland. I followed him back to some apartments-" I explained.

"You wish to meet him again," Larten finished my sentence.

"...Kind of. I mean, I remembered how Carly and Alexis reacted, but I was really close to my brother...What do you think?"

"Only tell him if you're sure he would not go running to the police. Or anybody else for that matter."

"...Aren't you going to give permission or forbid it or...something?"

He gave a small laugh at that.

"I do not see you as an assistant as much as I used to," he chuckled and I nodded with a small smile as he pulled me closer "As long as you are prepared to deal with the consequences, I do not mind."

"Do you think you'll find him?" I asked quietly.

"If the luck of the vampires is with me," he replied simply and I nodded "Are you going to visit your brother tomorrow?"

"I dunno," I shrugged.

I woke up at around 10-ish and instead of waking up Larten I spent about 10 minutes slipping myself out of his grip. When I managed it I found Darren and Evra were already up and watching tv.

"You'll get square eyes," I snorted, sitting next to them.

"Huh?" Evra asked, confused.

"It's what my parents used to tell me when I watched TV," I shrugged "You guys got any plans for today?"

"Snow ball fight, wanna join in?" Darren asked.

"Nah, I'm gonna go a wander or something," I shrugged "Plus, I never liked the snow."

Darren gave a small nod but Evra raised an eyebrow and I shrugged again. I got changed in the bathroom and whilst I was getting my cloak on, Evra came in.

"Where're you really going?" he asked with a small smile.

"Uh...Possibly to see my brother. If I can get the guts," I sighed.

"What if he gets angry?"

"Then I'll knock him out and put him on his bed with some form of alcohol in his hand. He'll think it was a dream," I improvised.

"Seriously?"

"I dunno," I snorted, putting my hat on.

"What if he tries to get you to stay here?"

"I wouldn't. Hey, wanna go to the circus tomorrow?" I asked.

"Seriously? Mon, we live at a circus."

"No, this is like a real performing circus. No animals or crap. Like clowns and stuff," I explained.

"Uh...Fine, I guess," he shrugged and we both left the bathroom.

"See you later, kids," I teased and left.

I was scared. I mean, he couldn't harm me, he was strong, but I was stronger and faster. Even if I was lanky, I was still a half vampire. I was more worried about how he'd react. I mean, I couldn't exactly go up, knock on the door and be all "Hey bro, how's life been treating you?"

He'd probably die. Well, that's a bit dramatic, he wouldn't die...just....faint or something. I got to the apartment building and leant against the wall opposite to the buttons you'd press to get into the building. Next to the button there were labels under some sort of plastic. One clearly read Alex Mastrelli in scrawled writing. What would I say when I pushed it? Pretend to be a pizza deliverer? Nah. Pretend to be mum? Possibly. I still wasn't even sure I wanted to do it. He wouldn't be OK with me showing up and disappearing again. Even if he knew I wasn't happy as a human, he wouldn't be happy that I was living with a circus. Not to mention that my mate was atleast 150 years older than me.

I sighed, whenever I went to push the button, I wouldn't be able to. I'd pull my hand away and the process would repeat itself. I shut my eyes tight, sighed and slammed my hand down onto the button. The speaker buzzed for a minute before I heard a familiar voice.

"Who's there?" it asked.

"Uh....mum," I said, trying to make my voice deeper.

The thing buzzed again before I heard the door click and I opened it. He was on the 3rd floor, giving me plenty of time to rethink as I climbed the stairs. I was there in five minutes and I stood there, unsure whether to knock on the red door or not. I bit my lip, raised my hand and knocked three times. I heard footsteps, a lock and then the door swung open. I kept my head down slightly so he couldn't see my face.

"Uh...who're you?" I heard him ask, unsurely.

I sighed and looked up. His eyes narrowed then widened and then he looked like he didn't know what to do.

"Monica?" he asked incredulously.

"Uh...Yeah," I said, sheepishly.

"Are you a ghost?"

"Not exactly."

He looked gobsmacked, as though he didn't know how to react. He settled on confusion.

"What the? No, you're not you. You can't be you! You're dead! You- you fell out the window! We buried you!" he said

"I really am me. Ask me anything," I stated.

"Ok, uh...What concert did I take you to when you were 8?"

"Green Day."

"What date?"

"November 30th. It was a late birthday present," I replied instantly.

"I'm not imagining this," he stated shakily.

"We should probably continue this conversation inside," I suggested.

He stood back, allowing me to get into the apartment. I found the living room and sat cross-legged on the couch. He walked in and sat opposite to me. He seemed to be less out of it.

"OK...How the fuck is this going on?" he asked.

"I'm a half vampire," I explained with a sigh.

"Vampires? What the? They don't bloody exist Monica!" he stated.

I showed him the scars on the ends of my fingers "This is how we're blooded."

"What the? So you joined some sort of cult that's convinced they're vampires?!"

"No, no. Nothing of the sort. I really am a half vampire. It's why I haven't aged much. Look, uh, I'll arm wrestle you," I offered, holding out my hand.

He was strong for a human so this'd prove it. He frowned and slowly took me hand. I beat him in seconds.

"I'm faster and stronger," I explained.

"Can you just...explain, from the start?" he sighed, rubbing his temples.

"Fine. Remember, uh, Carly? Well, we found this poster for a freak show. Cirque du Freak. It'd been ripped so we didn't know where it was or anything so we found a guy near where we found the poster. I didn't know it at the time, but he's a vampire, Larten Crepsley. He told us the address and stuff. Long story short, I found out he was a vampire and...got blooded. We faked my death, he dug me up and I've been living with the Cirque ever since. Well, I was here about a year or more ago. That's how I got these," I gestured to the thin, almost invisible scars on my arms.

"What the fuck?! This guy blooded you? You wanted to be blooded? Did he do it against your will? Oh my god, that sick freak," he started a mini tyraid.

"He's not a freak," I defended "You wouldn't be able to kill him anyway...No, I wanted to be blooded. I actually asked."

"You ASKED?" he said incredulously.

"You know how unhappy I was," I sighed feebly.

"You get along with this guy?" he asked, ignoring my answer.

"Yeah, uh, about that...Larten and I are..." I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck.

"Your dating him?! What the?! How old is he?!" he started again, his voice getting louder with each question.

"I'm pretty sure he's around 160 or something. Age doesn't matter with vampires. I'm not dating him either, I'm his mate," I explained but it didn't calm him down.

I ended up having to explain everything in extreme detail twice before he calmed down.

"Why are you here again?" he asked.

"A vampaneze is around here. Alex, this is extremely important. You can't leave this place after dark until I tell you. If you wake up with three scratches on your face come to the hotel opposite the metro station, room 54. If anybody else answers say you're there for me," I explained.

He sighed and nodded.

"But why shouldn't I leave the house if he can get in?"

"He won't kill you in your home."

"That's comforting," he muttered sarcastically.

"It should be," I shrugged.

A/N: Don't butcher me for making her brother OK with it, but it ties into later events in the story so it's needed. I tried to make it semi-realistic and sorry that it's rushed but I don't want to bore you with fillers.


	26. Chapter 31

A/N: I met Darren :D It was...awesome.

Most of that day was spent catching up with Alex. I found out it hit my family very hard when I "died". They'd recovered over the years but it apparantly it got very awkward if I was brought up.

"Mum and dad won't let anybody change...anything in your room," he had sighed "People tried to convince them to clear it out and rent the room or something of the sort but they refused."

I had also questioned him about Alexis and Carly.

"Alexis came over to the house, ranting and raving about vampires and how you were alive but they figured she was just talking nonsense. I haven't seen either of them lately though," he had shrugged.

I got back to the hotel in the early afternoon and found Evra and Darren on the grass outside, having a snowball fight. I quickly dodged some as they were thrown at me and disappeared into the hotel. Despite the eventful day, it felt quite boring at the hotel. I missed the Cirque. Maybe I could drag Evra and Darren to the circus with me that night.

Larten didn't wake up until about 8, he quickly ate and left.

"Guys, wanna go to the circus tonight?" I asked, putting the bowl in the sink.

"Sure, when does it start?" Evra asked.

"The latest showing is at 9 so we'd better leave like, now," I shrugged "I don't think it'll be too busy but still."

I was right, it wasn't as busy as the Cirque usually was, but there was a decent amount of people. I guessed most hadn't come because they didn't want to be out in the cold winter night. It didn't affect Darren or I and Evra was wrapped up in God knows how many layers. After buying tickets we shuffled inside the large tent. It was around the same size as the one the Cirque had. I was half expecting Mr Tall to come out and welcome us! Of course he didn't, but I did get a shock at first when it began. People with big hooded cloaks walked out, candles in hand. They looked like human little people! They did an amazing amount of tricks, from walking the tight rope, to riding a unicycle.

That's why I liked circus', they were generally cheery. Not dark, like the Cirque. Don't get me worng, the Cirque was great, and some bits were funny, but normal circus' aren't dangerous.

"I have to admit, that was fun," Darren admitted as we were walking back to the hotel.

"Yeah, it was," I smiled "What're you guys doing tomorrow?"

"Shopping. I was going to buy Christmas stuff, but since you all don't celebrate it," Darren trailed off.

"Who said I don't celebrate Christmas?" I raised an eyebrow.

"I just assumed," he shrugged.

I rolled my eyes but still gave a small smile. Darren made to go across the road but I shook my head and grabbed him, forcing him to keep on walking down the street.

"But, that's the way we came," he muttered.

"This way is faster," I shrugged.

"How'd you know?" he frowned as we passed through the alley where I'd first met Larten.

I gave a small smile at the memory, ignoring his question.

"How'd you know where you're going?" he asked as walked down another street.

"I explored for two days, duh," I shrugged.

"But even then, I wouldn't be able to remember where I was going if I'd explored," he muttered.

"Yeah, 'cause you're a smeghead," I teased.

He sighed, giving up. I was glad, he was too curious sometimes. I didn't want to have to explain my family to him just yet. The hotel was quiet, well, it was around 11pm, so I wasn't that surprised. We gave a small nod each to the person at the desk and made our way to the hotel room.

"Have you heard what the staff thinks about us, Monica?" Evra snorted, taking his jacket off.

"No, what?" I grinned.

"Mr Crepsley's some kind of doctor and we're from the nut-house," he explained and I laughed.

"That's the theory I...least expected," I raised an eyebrow, taking off my cloak.

"Well, look at the way we dress," Darren shrugged.

"S'pose. But their uniforms look more stupid in my opinion," I smiled.

As much as I did enjoy being back in my old city, it was quite boring compared to the Cirque. At the Cirque there was always a job to be done so if you wanted to do something, all you had to do was ask around. I didn't like sitting around and doing nothing for too long, it felt like such a waste of time for me. I wanted to take a walk but I didn't want to be out by myself at night. I wasn't much of a good fighter so it'd be very bad for me if I happened to cross paths with the vampaneze on the loose.

A week passed without much event. Until Tuesday, that is. Darren had just gotten back from his date with Debbie. I liked her, she didn't seem like a girl who'd take crap. Anyways, he was talking to Evra whilst I was watching the news on the couch when the news presentor said something disturbing.

"Another two dead bodies have been found in a warehouse last night, both once again, drained of all blood, over to Ted for the rest of the story," the news reader explained.

I cursed quietly and flipped the channel quickly.

"What was that?" Darren frowned, glancing towards the TV what had changed to cartoons.

"Just some horror movie," I lied quickly.

"Well why not watch that instead of cartoons?" he frowned.

"B-because I can't be bothered with that stuff...tonight?" I lied again.

Before I knew it, he'd grabbed the remote out of my hand and switched the channel. I jumped up, grabbed him around the wait and tackled him to the floor. I tried to grab the remote but he held my wrist away, grinning at first. The grin slowly fell as he read the headline at the bottom of the screen. I shot up and turned the tv off quickly.

"Drained of blood?" he said, slowly.

"See, told you it was a dumb horror!" I shrugged nervously.

"That was a news report," his eyes narrowed.

"It's called acting, Darren. Perhaps you should look it up," I rolled my eyes "I'm going to bed. G'night."

I was mentally cursing for about an hour before I managed to get to sleep. This was bad. This was very bad. Then again, he couldn't do much, could he? With both Evra and I watching him, he wouldn't be able to do much. I woke up the next day and I wasn't as nervous as I'd managed to reassure myself before I fell asleep. I gave a small laugh as I noticed the arm around my waist and I decided I was too comfortable to get up. I snuggled back into Larten.

"You have not told me how it went with your brother," he muttered, startling me as I thought he was asleep.

It was true, I'd barely spoken to him because he'd been trying to find the vampaneze all the time.

"It was good. He's got on in life...I'm happy for him," I murmered "He's a construction worker now. He used to hate his old job...It's weird though, I don't actually miss this place much anymore."

"It is not surprising. You have a new life now," he gave a smile.

I smiled back, he pulled me closer and we both fell asleep again. I woke up again hours later and knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep. I pried his arm away from me and got out of bed.

"Mornin'" I muttered, plopping down onto the couch.

"More like afternoon, it's one o'clock," Evra snorted.

"Really? Wow," I murmered "What you guys doing today?"

"Dunno, maybe shopping. You?" Darren asked.

"I'm uh, exploring again later," I shrugged.

"Why do you keep exploring?" Darren asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I like taking walks," I said, mimicking his expression.

He gave a small nod and didn't say anything else. A couple of hours later I left the hotel and made my way to my brother's apartment.

"I was wondering when you'd come back," he commented as I threw my cloak onto a peg.

"I'll come back every other day. It gets boring at the hotel," I commented.

"Is that a promise?"

"S'pose," I shrugged "I'll come before I leave too. I can't really promise I'll see you again after I leave. Unless the Cirque is here or something..."

"So that could be like 10 years or so?" he muttered, a little annoyedly.

"Possibly more," I replied.

"Well that's great," he sighed.

"It's vampire life," I shrugged, sighing.

"Can't you just turn me? I could tell mum and dad I'm moving," he tried.

"No," I said, bluntly "Larten wouldn't take on another assistant anyway."

"What about you?"

"Not enough vampire blood in me. It'd drive you mad."

"What about-"

"You're not getting turned. It's dangerous."

"Is that supposed to be comforting to me?"

"Nope."

"Good, 'cause it wasn't."

I ended up falling asleep on his couch that night. I didn't mean to, obviously, I just ended up dozing off and he didn't want to wake me.

"They're gonna kill me," I muttered when I woke up.

"Why?"

"Firstly, this is virtually unexplainable to Darren. Secondly, there's a vampaneze on the loose. I could've worried Larten and Evra," I explained.

"I thought you could take care of yourself," he shrugged.

"Not against a vamaneze. Anyways, I'll see you tomorrow. Bye," I said and left the apartment.

I ran back to the hotel and I was there by 10 o'clock.

"Where were you?" Darren frowned.

"I went on a walk, ended up falling asleep when I had a rest in the park. I must've looked homeless," I snorted.

He gave a suspicious look but didn't say anything else. I thought it was settled. Until that night. I had went for a walk around the block to keep myself occupied when Evra came running.

"What's the matter?" I frowned as he looked panicked.

"Darren's followed Mr Crepsley! I tried to stop him, telling him you trusted Mr C but he thinks you're killing people too! They're heading towards some butchery!" he said rushedly.

My eyes narrowed "C'mon."

Evra struggled to keep up with me as I ran towards the only butchery I knew about in town. I hoped to God it wasn't too late. It had taken about ten minutes to get there. We crouched behind two tables. It was silent. I frowned and peeked around the table nothing. I didn't know what to do. If I went into the next room, the vampaneze could be there and I could ruin everything if Darren wasn't. When I heard footsteps approaching, I stood up with a glare on my face, assuming it'd be Darren. I was wrong. Very wrong.

"Evra..." I breathed "Run. Fast. Now."

I was staring at not one purple face, but three. The vampaneze from last time....Along with Carly and Alexis.

A/N: Haha I loved writing this. Sorry if the ending was a bit rushed but I really want to get to the...plot-y bit. I have the next one basically done so it should be posted very soon. 


	27. Chapter 32

The vampaneze was grinning manically, Alexis' face held a look of pure joy and Carly looked meek. Evra sat, frozen in apparant fear and I didn't know what to do, I was in pure shock. That, however, wasn't an issue. Before I could do anything, the vampaneze breathed the gas that would knock both Evra and I out and the last thing I heard was an insane laugh.

When I woke up, I was hanging upside down, next to Evra. I had no idea where I was.

"Where's my hat?" I muttered the first thing that came to mind.

"Murlough had to let creepy Crepsley know that we had his dear little assistant," I heard a high pitched voice giggle.

"You're fucking insane," I groaned "All three of you."

"No we're not!" Alexis snapped "You think you're so special because your a vampire!"

"You're an idiot....You don't get it at all...Let us go."

"I do get it! You wanted to be special! You couldn't stand being the same as everybody else!" she shrieked.

"You have no idea what you're talking about, Alexis," I tried to explain.

"Shut up! You're just a hostage! You're in no position to tell us what we understand! Your life is in our hands!" she threatened.

I felt physically sick. My old best friends had turned into monsters. Because of me, mostly.

"Now, tell Murlough where you're living so we can pay a visit to Creepy Crepsley!" Murlough giggled.

"Fuck off."

In the long run, I regretted making that comment when he withdrew a large knife and made a slice in my forearm. I winced but didn't say a word. I had by that point noticed that Evra was still out cold, due to his silence.

"Be a good little vampire and tell Murlough," he said, with a slight trace of more seriousnss.

"No."

I bit back a groan as he dug the knife into the fresh cut, and made it deeper.

"Carry on like this and you won't have an arm by the end of this," he giggled.

I squeezed my eyes shut as the cut was made deeper again. This continued for a while and the searing pain was becoming unbearable.

"Cut the snake," Alexis said, suddenly, her eyes lighting up.

My eyes widened as I watched Murlough give Evra a few harsh slaps to wake him up.

"Monica?!" he asked, panicking.

"I'm here," I said softly, attempting to hide my cut arm from him

"Unfortunately for you, snakey-von, Monny-kins is being tight-lipped," Murlough said, giving sinister giggles "So we're going to play a little game. I cut one person to see if either of you speak up. Then I cut the other etcetera etcetera."

I bit my lip and closed my eyes tight as I heard Evra let out a shout as one of his scales was cut off.

"Now, where is creepy Crepsley? Anybody?" he asked.

When he received no answer he nodded to Alexis who dug a knife into my cut and made it deeper. I let out a shout but I didn't say anything. This continued for what felt like hours. Eventually Alexis began making new cuts so the first didn't get too deep. She'd cut into a new cut around 4 or so times before making a new one and I knew that if I survived my arms would be covered in ugly scars. Murlough and Alexis eventually disappeared down a pipe, to sleep I presumed. Carly was left to guard us.

She hadn't said one word all the time.

"A-are you okay?" she said quietly.

"Do either of us look okay?" I snarled "I'm more disgusted in you than Alexis. This is nothing like you!"

"I-it was her idea," she murmered.

"Don't you dare try to justify yourself," I growled and didn't say another word for the rest of the day.

But then Murlough appeared the next day and the torture ensued.

-3rd Person-

Alex was worried. It was around 3pm and Monica hadn't shown up yet. She couldn't still be sleeping. He highly doubted it anyway. He waited another hour and his nerves built more. Maybe he was being paranoid. But it'd be dark in about an hour, she would've shown up before that. He decided to make his way to the hotel. She had promised, and it was extremely unlike her to break a promise. By the time he got there, it was dusk. He eventually found the room and banged on the door.

Darren answered the door, confused. Alex heard deep voice inside ask who was there.

"Who are you?" Darren asked.

"Monica's brother. Is she here?" he asked.

"Brother?" Darren asked, looking baffled.

"Let him in!" Alex heard the voice say and Darren stepped aside.

Alex knew who he was looking at as soon as he saw Larten. He recognised him from the description Monica had given him.

"Just how much has your sister told you?" Larten questioned, a serious look plastered on his face.

"Everything," Alex stated, he couldn't help but glare at the man before him for taking his sister away.

Larten gave a small nod before sighing, looking Alex straight in the eye and talking.

"Monica has been taken by Murlough."

-Back with Monica-

Neither Evra or I had spoken yet. I was close to, the pain was become excruciating. I'm sure Evra was. It proved too much for Evra in the end. I didn't mind. He didn't have vampire blood to help him.

"I'm sorry, Monica," he groaned as Alexis and Murlough disappeared and Carly was left to guard.

"It's fine Evra, really," I murmered, trying to ignore the pain in my arms.

"It's not...I've just put their lives in danger," he stated.

"We've got through this once...What's a second time?" I said weakly, trying to comfort him.

Carly was watching all this with a guilty expression. I was starting to get a bad headache from being upside down.

"I'm sorry..." Carly muttered quietly.

"I don't care," I stated and she sighed and hung her head.

"I don't see any reason why I should forgive you," I said, bitterly.

"A-Alexis wanted me to!" she tried.

"Well here's a magic word. No."

"You know how she is! She forced me!" she said.

"Bullshit," I muttered and she gave up.

I was angry. Sure, Alexis could be intimidating, but Carly could've found some way to avoid becoming a vampaneze. I just hoped they didn't find Larten or Darren. But Murlough's insane laughter when they got back proved my fears.

"Clever Murlough found dopey Darren," he giggled and gave both Evra and I a shove so we swung.

"You're an insane bastard!" I cried, earning a slap.

"Ah-ah-ah! Bad Monica!" he giggled.

I knew I should've kept my mouth shut, but I was angry. It was my displeasure of finding out how sadistic Alexis was. She enjoyed herself greatly giving me bruises, and Evra. She knew it bothered me more to watch her hurt Evra than when she hurt me. That didn't mean she didn't hurt me much though, she'd alternate between us whenever she got bored with one. I ended up keeping my mouth shut because I knew it'd be stupid to get myself hurt more than necessary". The next day was unbearable. Murlough kept on giggling about how Evra was going to be his Christmas dinner and it was making me scared. What would happen if they didn't find us in time? I knew I shouldn't be pessimistic but I couldn't help but to expect the worst. I was scared. I didn't show it, I didn't want to panic Evra. I was, truly, terrified at the thought of death.

It was terrible when Evra started having nightmares. He'd wake up shrieking and sobbing. I was trying to stay awake, out of paranoia. I would attempt to comfort him but I knew that unless I could get us both out of there, there was nothing I could do. Murlough was sick. He enjoyed playing little games that didn't help my lack of sleep. He'd suddenly lunge at us to make us panic and then not hit us. When I saw it coming, it didn't panic me much. But when one moment he'd be at one corner and then the next he'd be right infront of me, it'd give me a fright and I'd let out a shriek. Alexis soon joined in with that. I began to notice she'd copy him. Kind of like a sheep. I think she idolised him, kind of how a fan would at a band's concert. Carly was quiet most of the time. She acted as a sort of...servant to them. I knew it was because she felt guilty. I'd always been close to her, after all. She didn't have the heart to hurt either of us. I was still disgusted in her, though I couldn't help but slightly pity her.

Of course, I was surprised when I heard Darren the next day.

"No! You said you'd wait until Christmas!" I heard him shriek.

"You mean it isn't Christmas? Whoops! A bit of a boo-boo, hmm?" I heard Murlough cackle.

"Honest mistake," Alexis giggled.

"You killed Evra?!" I cried, trying to turn but I couldn't. I was facing the back of a skeleton, but Evra was behind me as far as I knew.

"Whoopsie! Looks like we woke up little Monny-Bonny!" Murlough said in an innocent tone.

"Monica?! Did he kill Evra?!" I heard Darren ask, frantically.

"He better not have! I'm gonna bloody kill all three of these idiots!" I growled, but I was panicking.

Evra was my best friend. He couldn't be dead. It was impossible. Then a groan sounded from behind me.

"Who's that?!" Darren asked.

"Evra," I sighed in relief, I felt almost sick from how panicked I'd been.

"D-Darren?" I heard Evra ask.

"Fooled you BOTH!" Murlough cackled, delightedly "I knew I'd get Darren! But Monica?! Hehehehe!"

"You always were a gullible fool," Alexis grinned.

I ignored her comment.

"How did he catch you, Darren?!" Evra questioned.

"Where's Larten?!" I asked.

"Shut up, both of you! If either of you open your mouths it'll be the last thing you do!" Murlough ordered, kicking Evra and Alexis opened one of my cuts again.

We both automatically shut up. However, when Murlough began to say how he'd kill Larten, my anger got the best of me.

"Shut up! That's utter bullshit! You'll never kill him! You're a bloody coward! All three of you are cowards!" I snapped.

"Shut up!" Murlough snarled, punching me.

I winced.

"We will kill weak old creepy Crepsley! What kind of vampire associates with children? Sill old...creepy...PERVERTED...Crepsley," Alexis grinned, staring at me during the last part.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" I roared.

"So I WAS right! He's your little matey!" she grinned even wider, like a chesire cat.

"You know fuck all about vampires if you think age matters anymore," I hissed.

"Both of you! Shut up!" Murlough ordered towards both Alexis and I.

"Darren, I'm sorry! He made me tell him where you were! He was cutting my scales off! The girl was cutting Monica!" Evra sobbed.

"It's alright. I would have done the same...I wouldn't have lasted as long..." Darren said, calmly "That wasn't how he caught me, anyway. We changed hotels."

"Must have left your brains behind too! Murlough knows the place like the back of his hand! Did that not occur to you?" Murlough giggled.

Alexis hadn't said anything since he'd told her to shut up.

"It occured."

"Then why did you come down here?" Murlough questioned.

"Evra and Monica are my friends. I'd do anything for them," he said quietly and I felt strangely proud of him.

He was like an annoying younger brother, but I really did like Darren. I gave a tiny smile, which Carly noticed and looked slightly confused.

"That's the foolish human in you! If you were a full vampire you'd have ran away like creepy Crepsley did!" Murlough giggled, causing the anger in me to flare up again.

"He didn't!" Darren shouted and I clenched my fist.

"Yes he did! Yes he did!" Murlough giggled in delight.

"I followed him to the top! He was running so fast you'd think the sun was rising!" he cackled and I glared and had to bite my lip so I didn't say anything.

"You're lying," Darren said, I could tell he was trying to be calm but his voice was shaking with hidden anger "He wouldn't leave me. He definetely wouldn't leave Monica!"

"That's where your wrong! Very very wrong! He's probably back to wherever he came from by now! Left his little assistant and little play thing behind!" Murlough cackled in delight.

"Bullshit! Shut up!" I shouted, glaring.

"Oooh! Did I strike a nerve with Monny-kins?" Murlough giggled.

I hated not being able to do anything. It was tremendously annoying. It was then that Murlough brought out to knives. Both Evra and I automatically flinched and he giggled.

"They remember these!" Murlough giggled, taking the skeleton beside me down.

We all had clear views of eachother now, thanks to the strong torch light.

"I think it's time we cut down the amount of people in here...to save, uh, space," Murlough giggled.

"Who to choose...Who to choose....hmmm...."

At that point I honestly didn't know if he was bluffing or serious. He was giggling like he would when he would lunge at us. He looked slightly amused but slightly serious...

"Maybe Monny-kins...a bit of revenge for last time, hmmm?" he muttered to himself.

"I think I'll choose....YOU!" he said and lunged towards Darren.

Thankfully, he was only messing. I let out a breath I didn't realise I was holding in. But it soon escalated when we started panicking more. Murlough was starting to get serious and maybe even a little bored with us. I knew Alexis couldn't wait to kill me and she wouldn't have to be told twice.

"Please! Let them both go! I'll give you...Mr Crepsley!" Darren begged.

"Yeah!" Alexis grinned, her light red eyes lighting up.

"No!" I shrieked, but Murlough didn't like that idea either.

"No, no, no. You missed that chance," Murlough grunted.

My mind was racing and I became more pessimistic by the second as I listened to Darren attempting to negociate with Murlough.

"Maybe...He meant for you to kill Monica and I!" Darren said.

"What!" Murlough asked, eyes widening in suspicion.

"Hehe...That sounds about right...Monica, the little tool," Alexis crouched down and kept on giggling things like that into my ear, making it impossible for me to hear what Darren was saying.

But I did hear one thing. One thing that made me fill with dread, and even guilt.

"I'll give you...I'll give you Debbie for Evra and Monica," Darren said softly, causing both Evra and I's eyes to widen.

Alexis quickly shut up Evra and I's pleas towards Darren by having some fun with her knife.

"Carly! Guard these two!" she ordered sharply towards Carly as Darren was cut down.

We both ignored him as he tried to talk to us.

"He can't do that...he can't..." I muttered.

"Well he has..." Evra said bitterly.

I groaned in annoyance and it was silent. Carly spent all that time saying nothing, simply sitting in the corner and glancing at us every few seconds. About half an hour later, we heard footsteps. I stiffened, knowing it was Murlough coming back. I knew I would most likely be dead by sunrise. Well, I thought I knew. Until I saw the red suit. Carly shot up.

"C-Crepsley?! Where's Murlough?! Where's Alexis?!" she asked, eyes widening.

"Dead," Larten said coldly "It was a trap."

"Alexis?! She's dead? You killed her?" Carly questioned, her eyes filling with tears.

She looked frightened and I pitied her. She really had just been caught up in this whole thing. Larten breathed the gas that knocked her out and she fell to the floor, unconscious.

"Oh thank God," I breathed as Larten cut me down and Darren cut down Evra.

"Are you okay?!" he questioned, concernedly.

"I'll live," I gave a small smile as he pulled me to him and kissed me.

"I take it Debbie's alive then," I murmered as we pulled away.

Darren shook his head and Larten helped me stand up, it felt weird after being upside down for days. Larten took off his cloak and gave me it so I could hide my arms if anybody saw me. They looked worse than I thought. I had two pretty bad ones on my right arm and one bad one on my left. I had around 9 all together, but most hopefully wouldn't leave particularly noticable marks.

"What do we do with her?" I asked, biting my lip whilst gesturing at Carly.

"....We should kill her," he sighed softly.

"What?!" I asked, my eyes widening.

"She wouldn't have anywhere to go. She'd be alone. But it could cause problems if she told somebody about this," he explained quietly.

"Is there no other way?" I asked, my eyes filling with tears.

She had been my best friend for basically all my human life. I'd first went to the Cirque with her. She didn't want to hurt anybody. She just got tangled up in it all. She didn't deserve to die. But...what did she have to live for? She'd be alone, she'd always hated that. She didn't have anybody to help her, I mean, we couldn't take her in. Especially since she'd kill people. It wasn't her fault she was a vampaneze. She'd feel guilty. She'd end up blaming herself for everything.

"It would be best for her..." Larten murmered softly, putting an arm around my shoulder.

I felt my eyes well up with tears and I nodded.

"Darren, Evra, take Monica up to the surface. I'll be up in a while. I'll wait until I'm sure you're away."

I nodded again, taking a last glance towards Carly's unconscious body. I hung my head and ran out of the tunnels. I didn't want Darren or Evra to see me cry. They never had and I didn't intend for them to. I pulled myself out of the pipes and I sat on a bench leaning against a nearby wall. It wasn't long though, before Darren and Evra sat at either side of me. My arms felt stiff from the dried blood and how it was beginning to heal. I was trying to gulp back tears. It was weird, I hadn't spoken to her in years but it felt like we'd only visited the Cirque yesterday. I sniffed, sighed and ran a hand through my hair.

"You okay?" Evra asked, quietly.

"I'll be fine..." I murmered.

"Are you fine now?" he sighed.

"No."

He hugged me until Larten appeared from the tunnels. We all stood and he spoke.

"Before we leave I think we should visit Alex," he muttered.

"He must think I left without saying bye," I sighed.

"No, he came to see us when you didn't visit him. He has quite a....colourful language when he's angry," Larten replied.

I nodded and we began to walked towards the apartments.

"She would not have felt anything," he murmered softly as we were walking and I gave a small nod.

It didn't take long to get to the apartment building and the door clicked almost as soon as I pushed the button.

"Mastrelli?" Darren snorted, reading the name.

"Shan?" I mocked.

We all headed up the concrete steps and the door flew open and Alex threw himself towards me, hugging me. I smiled and he let go.

"Thank God, are you ok?!" he asked.

"I'll be fine. Larten just needs to heal my arms," I reassured him quietly.

"What's wrong?" he asked, eyes narrowing.

"Perhaps this should carry on inside," Larten stated and Alex nodded, stepping aside so we could go in.

We sat in the living room. I sat cross-legged next to Larten, still hugging his cloak around me. Evra sat in an armchair and Darren sat on the arm of it whilst Alex sat on his coffee table. Everything was explained to him in about 10 minutes and left him looking surprised.

"I can't say I care about the fact that Alexis is dead...but Carly was a good kid," he sighed and I nodded.

"I must heal your arms, Monica," Larten spoke.

"You might want to look away, Alex," I shrugged, taking off the cloak.

He didn't look away but when he saw the blood he looked a littly queasy.

"Definetely don't care that she's dead," he mumbled as Larten began rubbing spit into my arms.

Once the wounds had healed and I washed off the dried blood, I was left with three ugly scars. Two on my right arm, one on my left. The others were unnoticable unless you were actually looking for them carefully. I wrinkled my nose as the jagged scars and sighed. My face had a light bruise where Alexis had slapped me but I didn't care about it, it'd fade. I walked back into the living room to see Alex looking uneasy.

"S'matter?" I gave a half smile.

"I'm the only human in this room," he muttered.

"I class Evra as human, plus, Darren and I are half human, so there's really only Larten you have to worry about," I teased.

Larten gave a small smile "That reminds me, you have not had any blood."

I nodded and laughed at Alex's disturbed expression.

"Sorry, I'm still coming to grips with the fact that you're alive and you're a vampire," he shrugged and I smiled.

"Speaking of which. I heard you made a bad first impression on Larten," I laughed quietly.

"I may have called him a number of unpleasant things...Sorry about that," he chuckled sheepishly and Larten nodded.

"It is understandable," Larten nodded with a faint smile.

"What time is it?" I questioned.

"Three. We shall have to spend another day here."

I nodded and ran a hand through my hair.

"Well, this is one hell of a Christmas," Alex muttered.

A/N: I know people were looking forward to this chapter, so sorry if it was a bit of a let-down. I hope it wasn't though. :) 


	28. Chapter 33

**A/N: Sorry about the wait, guys. It took me a while to decide how I was going to go about writing the next bits with plots etc. I've got a sequel sorted too, once the whole Saga series is finished. Many of you seen the film yet? I'm not going to, but give me opinions :) **

Six years passed. I still remember the tearful goodbye I'd shared with Alex because we both knew there was a possibility we wouldn't see eachother ever again. Evra was growing up. It was really weird because he was my best friend yet he acted more like an adult, causing Darren and I to grow a stronger friendship. Even though I was mentally 26, I hadn't changed much and I had to admit, Darren had matured a bit. It was quite funny to see Evra get interested in girls though because there were endless amounts of funny comments to be made. Of course, we couldn't stay at the Cirque all the time, but that'd be awesome. But I wasn't entirely surprised when Larten told me we were going to go to vampire mountain.

"The big vampire-y type...place?" I asked.

"That is an interesting way of putting it, but yes," he gave a small laugh

"To present Darren to the-"

"_Vampire-y type people_?" he teased.

"I was going to say _prince type people_, but yes," I grinned.

He gave a small laugh again and spoke.

"I am also presenting you to them but Darren is the main issue due to his age," he explained.

"What? So they might question me?" I frowned.

"Only about Darren. I know you might be tempted but you must not lie to them. I know how angry you were at me when I blooded Darren," he explained.

"What? So you'll be punished?" I frowned.

He just smirked and didn't answer so I sighed and gave up.

"Have you told Darren yet?"

"Yes, but we leave tomorrow and the sun shall be rising soon, we must sleep."

After the second Murlough incident I'd begun sharing a coffin with him. I hadn't before because I thought there'd be no room but even if I wasn't lanky, there'd be enough room. Plus, the coffin was way more comfortable than the couch. We'd been sleeping for hours before there was a series of knocks on the coffin. I rolled my eyes mentally at Darren.

"What?" I murmered tiredly and he opened the coffin lid, causing me to wince at the new light.

"Mr Tiny wants to see Mr Crepsley," Darren hissed.

Larten's eyes opened at that statement and he let go of me.

"What could he possibly want?" he questioned, scratching his scar as I climbed out the coffin and pulled my cloak on.

"Couldn't we just....run? The sun'll be down soon! We could stick to the shadows," Darren suggested.

I didn't mind that idea, I wouldn't normally run but Mr Tiny gave me the creeps. There was something very sinister about him, and I didn't like it.

"I could, if I was a coward. I will not flee from Desmond Tiny. Bring my best cloak, I like to look my best for my visitors," Larten shot down the idea and Darren left.

"You know, sometimes I wish you were given to fleeing," I snorted, frowning at the idea of seeing Mr Tiny.

He gave a small smile at my statement and got out of the coffin.

"Well, atleast I have an hour to dread it," I sighed, sitting cross-legged on the couch.

"Optimistic as ever, Monica," Larten gave a small laugh and sat next to me and kissed me.

I smiled into the kiss and all too soon, the sun set.

"Ah, Larten!" Mr Tiny greeted happily as Larten entered infront of me "Prompt as ever!"

"Desmond," Larten replied stiffly, not even acting like he wanted to be there.

"I see you've brought Monica with you, good, good," Mr Tiny greeted me "Hello Monica."

I gave a small nod.

"Take a seat."

Larten declined and I didn't say anything but I stayed standing. I just wanted to get out of there. Larten and Mr Tiny had a "pleasant" chat for a while whilst Darren and I shared a few glances, we both didn't want to be there. There was a knock and Mr Tall let in two little people. I held back a frown as they entered and Mr Tiny greeted them.

"The path to vampire mountain is as dangerous as ever, correct?" Mr Tiny questioned.

"It is not easy," Larten agreed cagily.

"Well, wouldn't it be dangerous for a young snip of a thing like Darren and such a..._scrawny_ thing as Monica?" he asked.

I nearly glared. I wasn't _scrawny_. Lanky, perhaps, but not scrawny.

"Darren and Monica can take care of themselves," Larten stated and I gave a small smile.

Mr Tiny eyed up the scars on my arms, causing me to hide them in my cloak.

"Clearly," he replied softly, causing Larten's grip around my waist to tighten.

"But it's unusual for people so young to make the journey, yes?"

"Yes."

"Which is why these two shall accompany you as guards," he replied.

I stiffened. Guards? Why the hell would we want them with us? We're capable of looking after ourselves! Larten voiced what I had been thinking. It was only met with a threat though and I think we all knew it was a losing battle. Especially against Mr Tiny.

We left the van and then Larten spoke.

"These clothes will not do," he explained "We would stick out at vampire mountain."

He thrust a grey bundle at Darren and then spoke to me.

"I believe Truska has clothes for you, Monica," he explained.

I gave a small nod and made my way to Truska's tent. She handed me a black polo neck jumper, a new, thicker, pair of black trousers and a black beanie hat. I quickly pulled them on and when I came out from behind the screen I noticed she'd put my shoes and socks away.

"Uh...Where're my socks and shoes?" I asked, frowning.

She just gave a laugh and shook her head. I raised an eyebrow but hugged her and left the van. I found Larten and Darren at the outskirts of the camp and approached them.

"Truska may be losing it. She, uh, didn't give me any shoes," I frowned.

"No footwear. We go barefoot," Larten shook his head.

He explained it to us and I shook my head with a sigh.

"Bloody sadists, that's what vampires are. And masochists," I rolled my eyes.

Darren agreed and with a roll of his eyes, Larten led the way to vampire mountain.

We'd been travelling for a month and still hadn't gotten there.

"How long exactly is this going to take?" I questioned one night as we were walking.

"We are off some way yet," Larten stated simply.

"How long are we going to be off some way yet?"

"A while."

"It's a shame the little people are with us, we'd be able to flit," Darren sighed.

"It is not permitted. The trip up Vampire Mountain weeds out the weak from the strong," Larten explained.

"What about the old people? Or injured people?"

"Either they do not attempt the journey or die trying."

"Sadists and masochists," I repeated, earning a small smile.

"If I could flit, I would," Darren sighed.

"Vampire ways," I sing-songed.

"Even Monica doesn't take them seriously!" Darren sighed.

"Monica does not take anything seriously," Larten teased.

"Love you too," I muttered sarcastically, causing him to take my hand and Darren made wretching noises.

Things were well, as pleasant as they could get when you were climbing up a mountain, but after three nights, something happened. Larten stopped abruptly, causing me to walk into him, causing Darren to walk into me. Any other time I would have laughed at that but when I saw his serious expression, my eyes narrowed.

"S'matter?" I murmered.

"Smell the air."

Both of us did. Blood.

"Get ready to run as soon as I give the order," he ordered and we slowly approached the way station.

It was like a scene from a cheesy horror film, but there was nothing remotely cheesy about this. There were three wrecked coffins and blood...everywhere.

"Please...tell me this is animal blood," I murmered, looking around the room.

"It is the blood of a vampire."

"What d'you think-" Darren started before we all heard a rushing sound and he let out a yelp.

I let out a small shriek as I landed on the floor when Larten forced me behind him and shot his hand out.

"Larten! Stop! It's me! Gavner!" the person shouted.

Larten stopped, Darren was dropped and my head shot up.

"Gavner?!" we all cried at the same time.

Once we were, well, safe, we got talking.

"So, how have you been?" he asked Darren.

"Fine."

"What about you, Monica, still mates with the old buzzard?" he asked me.

"Of course," I replied simply, smiling.

"So either of you planned on topping up yet?"

"No," Darren stated right away.

"Haven't thought about it at all," I shrugged.

"Well you'll probably be a full vampire before Darren. You're closer to looking like an adult than Darren."

"We are planning to wait until Monica goes through the first stages of the purge, depending on when that is and what age she looks at the time," Larten explained and I gave a small nod.

"It must be hard for you both to age so slowly," Gavner sighed.

I didn't say anything, but shrugged.

"Is is," Darren sighed.

"Things will improve with time," Larten stated, placing an arm around my waist.

That comment seemed to hit a nerve with Darren, though.

"Yeah, when I'm all grown up, thirty years from now!" he snapped, standing and going to fill the canteens.

"The sun will be rising soon. We should sleep," Larten commented.

We made a bed next to the fire and I ended up between Larten and Gavner.

"Better watch out, I might steal Monica from you," Gavner joked.

"That is about as likely as me growing wings," Larten stated simply, but he still pulled me closer to him, causing me to give a small laugh and close my eyes.

It took a while to sleep though. Gavner's words had affected me more than I let on. I didn't **love** feeling like I was 26 whilst looking like I was around 18. I didn't hate it though. The only thing that I physically disliked about myself was my lack of strength. I was fast and I had energy, but no strength. What could I do? Run? It made me kind of useless in battle. Sure, I was way stronger than a human because of my vampire blood, but I wasn't particularly strong against another vampire. Eventually I drifted to sleep. As long as I didn't look really scruffy, I didn't fuss much about how my hair looked etc.

I was waken by the sounds of growls and a "No!". All three of us jumped up to see a bunch of wolves with Darren and the two little people approaching.

"No! Get away!" Darren ordered.

One kept approaching but the one with the limp, who Darren called Lefty, stopped it and they both backed down.

"Wolves!" I grinned.

"I see you have met some of our cousins," Larten stated.

I put my hand infront of the leader's nose, he sniffed it for a second and then let me pat him. I smiled and rubbed behind his ears before sitting next to the cub to play with him.

"Larten?"

"Yes?"

"Can we get a dog?"

"No."

I sighed and then grinned as the cub began pawing at my hand playfully. The sun set around half an hour later and we continued our way up the mountain. Until we reached a wall that is.

"What do we do now?" Darren asked.

"Could we find another way?" I questioned.

"It would take to long," Gavner muttered.

"Dig?"

"Again, it would take too long. We must climb," Larten said simply.

I don't know why but Gavner found that moment appropriate to begin undressing.

"Oh dear God," I groaned "_Why_ is Gavner undressing?_ Why_?"

I wasn't sure I'd like the answer.

"Our clothes would protect us but they would get tattered in the climb. It's better to take them off," Gavner explained as I shook my head sighing.

I then, of course, noticed I was the only girl. Before I had time to dread sitting infront of all three of them in my underwear, we all saw Gavner's underwear which was yellow and adorned in pink elephants.

"Nice elephants, Gavner," I snorted.

"Bought by a human you were romantically involved with, I presume?" Larten smiled.

"She was a nice woman...She just had bad taste in underwear," Gavner sighed.

"And boyfriends," Darren added.

Even Larten keeled over laughing at that.

"Ahh Darren. I'm so proud of you," I grinned, high-fiving him.

Luckily, my choice in underwear wasn't as...vibrant as Gavner's. I had a simple black bra and black girl boxers. I sighed and rather than delaying it I took off the trousers and jumper.

"I'm beginning to consider a sex change," I muttered sarcastically, feeling embarassed about standing around in my underwear.

"Please, do not," Larten stated, rubbing some herbs into my back.

"You're taking advantage, there," I commented with a cheeky smile.

"I would never dream of it," he said simply.

"I'm sure."

"You're fine with being a girl back at the Cirque," Darren laughed.

"One, at the Cirque there are also other girls, even though I don't hang round them much. Two, I have never once had to get into my underwear and climb some sort of obstacle with you and Evra. Kinda glad about that too, it'd be weird."

"And this is not?" Larten questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"The weirdness of this situation is how this conversation got started."

"Enough chatter, there's plenty of time to discuss Monica getting a sex change when we climb this thing," Gavner interrupted with an amused smile and put a stop to the conversation.

Climbing wasn't my strong point. It certainly wasn't something I intended on doing again, either. I was just happy my vampire side managed to get me up there because if I was a human wouldn't have gotten three feet high, never mind four meters! The mostly optimistic mood changed when we all finished the climb. Larten and Gavner paused first, solemn looks consuming their faces.

"What's wrong?" Darren asked as I frowned.

"Smell the air. Think back six years," Larten stated softly after a while.

Both of us sniffed the air and then paused.

"...Blood?" I frowned.

"Not just any blood. Vampaneze blood."

Unlike Darren, I hadn't been there all those years ago when both Alexis and Murlough were killed. I hadn't exactly stuck around to sniff the body bags, either. I knew something for definite. Something was wrong.

**A/N: Hope you all had an amazing Halloween (Even though it was like two weeks ago) :) Once again, sorry for taking ages. I've been busy. (Also reading Vampire Chronicles. Lestat is divine.) Not much happened in this chapter. I've got a plan though, which leads to alot of romance-y type...stuff. **


	29. Chapter 34

**A/N: New laptop, yay. I've been writing scenes to come anyway. **

**Sorry for the huge wait, I'm not gonna pretend I have some really good reason for not updating in more than four months, I just haven't been able to write but I seriously can't apologise enough to you guys. I've rewritten Chapter One, Chapter Two is slowly being rewritten. This story has had it's first birthday during my absence. **

We quickly made our way through the briar patch. I was becoming increasingly aware that I was still in my underwear and I didn't know if the vampaneze blood or my lack of clothing bothered me most. Once we were on the far side we finally stopped to get dressed, to my delight. It had its down side though, I was enjoying seeing a topless Larten. I gave a small blush, despite what Darren thought, we'd never gone beyond (rather lustful) kissing. Mainly because, as cheesy as it sounded, I didn't feel ready. I shook my head at myself for a second and pulled my jumper on.

As soon as we were all ready we were on our way again. Larten was determind to get to a way station before the sun rose. Nobody spoke and I could practically hear their minds working with curiousity. I had a certain vendetta against Vampaneze. Even if it was unfair, thanks to Murlough I lost the two best friends I had as a human. I knew it was a bit irrational hating all of the Vampaneze because of one crazy jackass but I couldn't really help it. I didn't want them all dead, death was just sad. They were just...there. Inconveniently.

Once we were inside the way station for about three minutes, Larten and Gavner began discussing the unfolding events whilst Darren and I watched. They soon "decided" that if there were vampaneze on the mountain, it had nothing to do with us or the messy events that had unfolded years ago. We agreed to take turns being lookouts. Gavner went first so Larten and I headed to a coffin and he clutched me close to him, almost possessively. It was a huge comfort to me and the warm padding of the coffin instead of cold rock was a luxury. Even though I had better sleeping conditions than I had for the past week, the sleep I got that day was still uneasy. I couldn't help but imagine vampaneze only a mile from us.

When we woke up that night we scouted the area before continuing to make sure the path we were taking was safe. I got stuck with baby sitting Darren as I liked to call it, I knew I wasn't after all, if we did run into vamapaneze I wouldn't be able to do much against them unless there was a half vampaneze somewhere. Streak, the leader of the pack, went with them leaving me and Darren in the cave with a few of the female wolves and the cub. We spent hours in the cave and I sat back with one of the smaller females, occaisonally petting her, watching Darren play with the cub. It reminded me of the cats I had as a human. It wasn't exactly comforting to know they'd probably be dead by now.

I shrugged "See this as a mini rest."

"Yeah but what if we run into Vampaneze? What if Gavner and Mr Crepsley run into some now?"

"I can't see it happening, didn't you listen when they were talking? It's unlikely."

"Could you see Murlough coming back?"

"Hush."

Despite the situation he gave a small laugh. I wasn't going to lie about being worried, if he had asked me directly I probably would have admitted it.

"S'pose we should start finding berries and stuff for dinner?"

I gave a small nod and stood up after petting the wolf one last time.

"You nervous about vampire mountain?" he asked off-handedly.

"Meh, intimidated. You?"

"Excited."

There weren't many animals around where we were, probably because it was higher up therefor colder so we mainly gathered berries. Once we had enough we made our way back to the way station where the Little People were, stitching their cloaks. Where did they learn to sew? I gave a small laugh at the thought and shook my head when Darren gave a questioning look. Much to both our relief Gavner and Larten returned before daybreak. After eating I followed Larten to the coffin.

"Do you think we're in danger?" I asked softly, closing my eyes.

"I can not be sure, but I do not think so. This is merely a precaution. I am more curious to find out why they are here."

That's what I loved about him, he didn't sugarcoat things, he told the truth simply. Bluntly, I suppose. I hated it when people complicated things unnecessarily.

"Gavner and I shall scout the area tomorrow again, if nothing troubling appears we shall continue on our way."

I nodded and buried my face into his neck.

"Have you got any, uh, theories on why they're here?"

"None that are realistic. Have you?"

"My imagination is too wild for me to come up with one that makes sense," I gave a small laugh and he smiled.

Soon we fell asleep and once again, when I woke up that evening I was the only one in the coffin. I pushed the lid away and got out. Darren was outside playing with Rudi, the cub he named. I sat on a rock near the coffins and thought for a while. I deemed it pointless to come up with a theory, I didn't know enough about what was going on and what went on between the Vampaneze and Vampires to make a logical guess. I was broken out of my thoughts when I heard a growl, a few yelps and a shout.

I shot up and ran outside. Darren was nearing the cave and Rudi was up a tree with an angry looking bear snarling at him.

"Monica, Rudi-" he started.

"Will be dead soon if we don't stop that bear," I replied.

It seemed unreal, like it wasn't happening at all. Darren grabbed a stick that was lying on the ground.

"I'll distract the bear, get Rudi," Darren ordered.

I gave a small nod as Darren grabbed a rock and hurled it at the bear. The bear took about four steps away from the tear and began to roar angrily at Darren. I darted forward and to the opposite side of the tree that the bear was at and began to climb the tree. It turned it's head a little but Darren distracted it by running up and jabbing it with a stick and shouting.

"C'mere, Rudi," I tried to coax him, reaching out an arm.

I couldn't go any further towards him, the branch would snap. He was just out of my reach, if I stretched my fingers right out I could feel the edge of his fur with my fingertips. He was too frightened to move, he just latched onto the branch and refused to move. I tried to inch forward but whenever I did I'd hear a worrying snapping noise so I went back to where I was. The female wolves began to run out of the cave and I heard them begin to snarl at the bear. Even though I wasn't very high up, I couldn't handle looking down much.

"Oh, eff it," I murmered and launched myself forward.

I clutched the cub, careful not to harm him and shot backwards to where I was before to see half of the branch snap and fall so it was hanging off of the tree. This caught the attention of the bear who spun round and lifted a huge paw, trying to hit one of us with its paw. It couldn't reach me but it managed to catch the edge of my trouser leg, leaving a small hole. I was extremely thankful that the trousers were slightly too big for me, I preferred the hole to be in my trousers and not in my calf. Whilst the bear was turned the little people took advantage and ran into the back of the bear, causing it to roar angrily, spin around again and swipe at one of them.

As soon as the little people had caught its attention I began to quickly climb down the tree. I sped towards the cave where there were two female wolves. I put Rudi down and he ran towards them. After that I ran back outside to see one little person dead and Darren trying to fight the bear with one of it's bones. The bear, frenzied, looked betweent the two of us, almost trying to decide which would be easier to kill. It chose me. It lumbered forward slightly, causing both of us to take a few steps back.

"Any plan? At all?" I breathed.

I had never been faced in a situation where it was left to pure chance. I'd been in danger with Murlough but atleast he had a slight hint of predictability. A rabid bear didn't.

"Stay alive," he replied hurriedly as the bear lunged.

It seemed as though it couldn't decide which to kill so it simply ran towards the middle of us. Darren ran to the left, I ran to the right. The chances were 50/50. If it ran at Darren, I'd probably have to find some way of attacking it from behind and vice versa. It went for Darren. As it ran almost clumsily towards Darren I ran forward and leapt on it's back and it stood up in it's hind legs and began to move annoyedly, trying to shake me off.

"I need to get it's neck!" Darren shouted over it's roars as I clung onto fistfulls of it's fur.

I grabbed the bear's jaw and wrenched it upwards, my heart was pounding in my ears, if I didn't break it's neck, Darren would stab it. Darren launched himself forwards and plunged the bone into the bear's neck. It stopped dead for a minute but then it began to topple backwards. It took me a second to register what had happened before I dragged myself out from under it and moved to sit beside Darren.

We both sat there for a while, not saying a word. We were both crying in relief and shock. A few she-wolves emerged from the cave to make sure we were okay. I gave a small smile and scratched behind one of their ears.

"Sorry about your friend, Lefty," Darren spoke to the unmasked little person.

"Do you want to bury him?"

It was like when people talked to their pets, they never expected a reply. Not that Lefty was pet-like in any way at all. But we were both shocked when he lowered the mask he wore and spoke.

"Name not....Lefty....Name...Harkat...Harkat Mulds"

I blinked and my head shot up.

"Did you just speak?" I was too young to be going insane.

It gave a jagged smile and my eyes widened even more. Both of us just stared at it for what seemed like ages. It put it's mask back over it's mouth and replaced it's cloak. It then sat down on a rock. Eventually my baffled state wore off and Larten and Gavner arrived with Streak, having heard the fight.

"Are you okay?" Larten asked frantically, concerned.

"Yeah, but, uh," I wasn't sure how to say it without sounding delusional.

"The little person spoke!" Darren exclaimed simply.

Everything became much more serious than Darren and I had thought after Harkat gave them the message he had to tell the princes. The mood darkened even more once we had both found out the message and what it actually meant.

On the plus side, the trip up the mountain seemed to speed up since we had things to think about other than getting there. When we finally arrived there a guard in green greeted us. Greeted being used loosely, but I wasn't exactly going to complain. Both Larten and Gavner said the standard greeting so I copied.

"Monica Mastrelli, come to seek the council."

So did Darren and Harkat. We were "initiated" and entered the welcoming halls.

**A/N: I was uneasy about writing that bear scene. I didn't want to make it look like Monica was doing everything (Mary-Sue-esque) but I didn't want her to be all Damsel in Distress-y. It was a bad place to stop and I'm not too impressed with this, but you guys deserve an update...if there's any of you left .**


	30. Authors Note

Guys, I can't really say how sorry I am for just...leaving this story. I think I was just sick of the sight of it when the movie came out (which I still haven't seen, nor will I ever) but I'm half way through Birth Of A Killer and I'm considering a total re-write of the story. I doubt I'll have any subscribers left, but hopefully I'll get a few new readers. So yeah, look out for a re-write.


	31. Notice Read This!

**Sorry, not a chapter. Instead of deleting all the chapters I'm just going to post the story under a different name. I only decided this when I'd deleted chapters 2-6, so sorry. So, erm, yeah, look out for it and I'll probably try to message you when it's up and posted, chapter 1 is already in progress. I'm just totally stuck for the new name of the story :). Sorry for the second author's not in a day, I just want to keep you all updated.**


	32. The Rewrite is Up!

**Sorry for spamming you all with a third, this is just to let you know that I've posted the re-write, it's called The Vampire's Assistant. I tried to message you all but them my brain exploded and I couldn't remember who I'd messaged and who I hadn't (there's not even many of you to message, I know, but I have a memory like a sieve.) So go check out the remake on my page and I really hope you all like it :D I tried to keep it similar to the original, just improved writing. I'll stop annoying you all with these now. Sorry.**


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